A Brief History

OUR STORY:

Annie’s Doves were first designed by my father, David, at the start of the Northern Ireland peace process (1993 -1998). He named them after my sick grandmother, Anne, whom I am named after.  She was a community worker and peace campaigner from Belfast. 

Dad was inspired by participating in Mexican-Waves in the crowd at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He made and sent different designs of paper peace doves, to charitable, political, youth, religious, sports, music, media and cultural bodies to be copied and used at events to allow people, individually and as part of a group, to express a simple, symbolic, unified and universal message of peace from the people of Northern Ireland to the world. 

One design, with the finger-strap, Annie’s Dove, was identified as being unique. A thorough patent and design search was carried out by the Industrial Research and Technological Unit (IRTU) in Belfast in January 1994 and no matches were found. However, dad wanted the idea to be free for everyone to use. It has been in the public domain, free for public use, since 1994. You can try to find a similar design, but I guarantee that you will not, even 34 years later. I’ve tried. Please let me know if you find a similar or better design.

Annie’s Doves were originally designed, used then forgotten before the internet era or current eco-concerns. In addition to being a simple, beautiful and universally understood idea to promote peace, I realized the potential that the unique finger-strap design offered as a S.U.P.E.R. (Sustainable, User-friendly, Paper Eco’-Responsible) alternative to the mass-produced, unsustainable SUPs that we use to celebrate events. It is simply more sensible, safer, sustainable and symbolic to make and use your own paper design, attach it to your finger with the new finger-strap design, free your hands, have fun, then recycle or reuse it. Nowadays, copies of the design can easily be sent to individuals, small groups or to millions of people around the world, electronically and for free. They can simply make their own.

Free Your Hands - Make Celebrations Sustainable – Give Peace A Chance.

Annie’s Doves shows that simple, sustainable solutions can be found and shared. It is my hope that they can be used to promote peace, to promote the UN’s SDGs, 2030 and to inspire others to seek and share sustainable solutions to build a better future.

Thank you for taking the time to read about the origins of Annie’s Doves. I hope that it was of interest. It is a simple, yet true story and idea resurrected and shared by me to continue a family tradition, to show how we as young people in the global community can combine old and new forms of media innovatively, individually and in partnership, to promote peace, find sustainable solutions, make change and achieve the UN’s 17 SDGs, 2030. Become a part of this story and help to help spread its wings and message around our world.

Free your Hands – Make celebrations sustainable – Give Peace a Chance. 

Make the UN SDGs, 2030, reality.

Support and share SUPER alternatives - Boycott SUPs. 

Make your own, put it on, take it home.