A Cork family have started an initiative offering messages of encouragement to locals which children from all around the area are now taking part in.

Kinsale Rocks is an initiative which was started in Kinsale last year by the Edwards family and has been gaining traction on social media by locals in the community as of late.

Maeve Edwards and her two children, Ruby and Jimmy, are painting rocks with messages of encouragement and quotes to lift peoples’ spirits during a difficult time.

The idea stemmed from a trip to Scotland when Ruby and Jimmy were visiting their grandfather who lives there.

They found a painted rock and after some research, Maeve found that it was an existing initiative called kindness rocks in America, and so they decided to start their own in Kinsale.

They collected a couple of hundred of rocks and have been using the time during lockdown to paint them and drop them off in different areas of the town and in Dunderrow Woods.

Rocks made especially for different businesses in the local area have been left outside their doors or window sills also with special messages appreciation.

Ms Edwards lost her job in the hospitality industry when the family restaurant she worked in was closed due to Covid-19 and she has been using the time off to paint the rocks with Ruby and Jimmy.

“I’m in the restaurant industry so that’s why I kicked into gear when we were shut so that’s when the rocks fest happened.

“I’m a self-confessed quote lover anyway so I do love them. We started putting quotes of encouragement on the rocks, just basic small quotes but uplifting quotes.

“Some people were finding them on their doorstep and lots of people have been saying that it made their day because everything is so mundane now,” she said.

Ms Edwards said that it’s a project that the whole community is now involved in and something that keeps kids busy during lockdown.

She said that she is wary that the rocks are being passed along but that safety measures were taken and that the rocks are disinfected before being placed in the local area and that it is “up to everybody else’s hygiene after that”.

To see some of the encouraging messages being spread through Kinsale Rocks, visit the Kinsale Rocks Facebook and Instagram accounts.