THE craze of painting ‘kindness rocks’ is about to hit Alton, with people being invited to paint poppy pebbles in honour of the fallen to lay at the foot of the Cairn War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday.

Led by Primrose Jones, the Alton project will form part of the Big Rock Poppy Drop, which has led to initiatives such as a primary school in Telford where children have painted 503 rocks as poppies containing the details of British soldiers from wars dating back to the First World War.

Originating in the United States, the kindness rocks’K project encourages folk to paint a message on a stone and leave it somewhere for a stranger to find and either take, share or add another one to the pile, the thinking being that “one message at just the right time can change your entire day”.

The idea has now caught on in the UK with rock painting now a crafty hobby.

A search on social media shows how groups dedicated to the pastime, such as Love on the Rocks, are being set up around the country.

Members decorate rocks and hide them in their area, and then alert would-be rock hunters about where they’ve hidden the painted rocks via dedicated Facebook pages.

The rocks are then found by rock hunters or passers-by who post them on social media and keep them if they wish or simply leave them for someone else to find.

Generally, the stones have Love on the Rocks UK painted on the back. With this in mind, Primrose has been painting and encouraging others to paint kindness rocks as a way “to brighten up someone’s day”.

She has also expanded the idea into commemorating special events, and this weekend to becoming part of the Big Rock Poppy Drop, having received permission from Alton Town Council and the Royal British Legion for people to lay their painted poppy rocks at the foot of the war memorial on Crown Hill.