Harleston stone snake Ally is bringing cheer to a post-lockdown community

A stone snake which is slowly coiling its way around a memorial garden represents the latest chapter of a community’s story as it emerges from lockdown.

The snake, named “Ally,” first began growing in Harleston when Sarah Mayes and her sons Otis, six, and Arlo, two, were looking for a way to do something positive within the community.

With “kindness rocks” already taking off within the town, they soon found the answer.

Otis painted a large stone and added eyes and a tongue to it, and children began adding kindness rocks, which are stones painted with positive messages - forming a chain.

The line of stones in the memorial garden of St John The Baptist Church in Harleston was named “Ally the stone snake” and any rocks which are painted or found after being hidden around the town, can be added.

Last month, a competition to guess the number of stones in the chain was held, with a family winning a food hamper for the closest guess.

Ally was over 200 stones in length, and has been growing since.

Mrs Mayes said: “It’s lovely for kids and parents to be able to see it and smile. It has kept the children occupied through lockdown and they’ve been really excited to see the stones being added.

“My husband drives past each day and stops to take a photo for Otis and Arlo to see.

“It brings cheer to people, whether they are adding stones or walking by. As we’ve been shielding, we haven’t been able to get involved in as many community activities as we’d like during lockdown, so we were glad to be able to do our part with Ally.”

To find out more about Harleston community activities, click here.