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Hospital patient, 15, makes 1,000 origami cranes for ‘good luck’

Sophie Aldred will donate most of the paper cranes to Bristol Royal Hospital For Children.

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Sophie Aldred and her 1,000 paper cranes

A teenager who made 1,000 paper cranes for good luck is to donate most of them to the hospital where she is recovering.

Sophie Aldred, 15, was introduced to origami while at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children by a member of staff.

Sophie Aldred's 1,000 paper cranes
Sophie Aldred began working with origami while at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children (University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust/PA)

She decided to undertake the project of making 1,000 cranes as a way to continue working with origami while Alex, the activity centre coordinator at the hospital, was on holiday.

She said: “I needed to do some form of origami, so I thought I’d do one thousand cranes – apparently it’s good luck in Japan and it felt like that’s what I needed at the moment.”

Sophie took three-and-a-half days to make all 1,000 cranes with some help from her family.

Sophie Aldred and her 1,000 paper cranes
Sophie said she felt she needed some good luck while in hospital (University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust/PA)

She will take some cranes home, give the rainbow cranes to her little sister and donate the rest to the hospital.

Mother Katrin Chichester said: “This got us through a tough week and really brought the family together.

Sophie Aldred's 1,000 paper cranes
Sophie will donate most of the cranes to the hospital (University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust/PA)

“Sophie’s 17-year-old brother made some cranes, Sophie’s little sister’s nanny made some cranes and I did too. It really gave us a focus!”

Sophie, from Bristol, has been in hospital for around five weeks and is said to be recovering well.

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