Three youngsters spend a year supporting the Borders Rape Crisis Centre

(L-R) Sylvie Armitage, Katy Cameron, SBRCC director Susie Stein and Annabel Vause stand with some of the 1,000 cranes they folded (stuck to a board in front and hanging from mobiles in the background and in Sylvie's hand)

It was in November last year that Sylvie Armitage, Katy Cameron and Annabel Vause

started making and selling origami cranes.

They set a target of making 1,000 paper cranes – the long-necked birds – as, according to Japanese tradition, that is the number which enables a person to make a special wish come true.

They hoped to raise £300, specifically for the centre's young person specialist support service.

They met up for regular weekly folding sessions, both in person when possible and via Zoom during lockdowns, in order to achieve their aim.

Sylvie and Katy, both S2 pupils at Earlston High School, had known each other for years but were newly friends with Annabel, an S3 at Selkirk High School, who found out about the project on the grapevine.

All three had learned to fold cranes from Sylvie's mum. "It was great that we were able to become friends during this project," said Annabel. "We are looking forward to doing more projects together as well!"

The three ambitious young women launched a Facebook page and posted regular updates in the hopes of receiving sponsorship for their folding efforts.

Sylvie said: "It seems really important for women to have a safe place to go. We wanted to support that."

Overall, they raised £336 in sponsorship for the centre.

Susie Stein, SBRCC's chief executive officer, said: "We were overjoyed when we learned about the ambitious task the three young women were undertaking in aid of our service. They have worked hard and exceeded their target, the funds raised will go directly towards supporting young survivors accessing our specialist young persons service, Unity. We would like to say a huge thank you to Annabel, Katy and Sylvie.’’

The paper cranes are to be displayed at Earlston High School, Selkirk High School, Rowlands Youth Centre in Selkirk, Cafe Recharge CIC in Galashiels and SBRCC in Galashiels.