Peace is spreading around Clevedon on a wing and a prayer after a town church group has created nearly 1, 400 paper doves to go on display around the town.

The ambitious project has been organised by Churches Together in Clevedon to mark the centenary of the end of the first world war. The act of making the origami doves has also been carried out in memory of a Japanese girl, Sadako Sasaki, who was caught up in the Hiroshima bombing and, after a Leukemia diagnosis shortly after her 12th birthday, was determined to make 1000 peace cranes before she died.

Her remarkable story of hope has been included on letters which have been given to shop keepers around the town together with the origami doves, which have been made by schoolchildren, YMCA, Brownies and Guides assisted by a team of adults. They will be on display until November to mark 99 days of peace, part of the Hope 18 national Christian Initiative, to bring communities together on this special mission.

Churches Together project co-ordinator, Kim Anderson, said: “We had a team of five from Churches Together who contacted five headteachers from primary schools in Clevedon to make the doves. “Then we had a team of 15 who walked round 147 shops to ask them to display them for the 99-day period. We are delighted that the majority of them have agreed and it is a fantastic way of displaying such an important message round Clevedon.”

The Hope 99 Days of Peace initiative is inviting churches to come together between August 4 and November 10.

The date of August 4 has been set as, 100 years ago, King George V asked for the day to be a National Day of Prayer, 100 years after the 1st world war ended, when he and his wife Queen Mary attended a ceremony at the church of Saint Margaret, Westminster.

If you would like to make your own Dove. Please see the directions below. The paper size you need is 170mm x170mm.  (it must be square)