Pictured above: (l-r) Keith Beresford, MD Embassy Freight Services and Keiko Hirano, EG Tennis Club member, with the one thousand Origami Cranes

A delivery of 1,000 origami paper cranes is to arrive in the Japanese town of Sendai later this month, bringing a message of hope to victims of the recent disaster.

Embassy Freight Services (Midlands), based in Sutton Coldfield, is preparing to air freight the special delivery to the children being cared for at Sendai Hospital, having lost all of their living relatives in the earthquake and resultant tsunami last month.

According to Japanese culture, the crane is a holy or mystical creature and a symbol of hope. It is believed that if those in need can make 1,000 paper cranes, it will bring them good fortune.

The paper cranes, with prayers and goodwill wishes attached, were made by visitors to a Japanese cultural day at East Gloucester Tennis Club in Cheltenham earlier this month.

The event, which raised nearly £2,500 for the British Red Cross Tsunami Appeal, was organised by EG Tennis Club member, Keiko Hirano. The day's activities included a charity auction, origami, tai chi and dressing up in kimonos, with a chance for visitors to wield a Samurai sword.

Keiko explains the reasons for sending the cranes to the children in Sendai, which was closest to the epicentre of the earthquake and was hit the hardest by the subsequent tsunami:

"It is hoped that this symbol of the cranes will have a powerful effect on these young children and hopefully show them that they aren't forgotten, but on the contrary, many people from several thousand miles away care and wish them well."

The story of the cranes making the 7,000-mile journey from Gloucester to Sendai has already begun to capture imaginations in Japan, and a local television crew is expected to be there when the parcel arrives.