WITH a monumental effort by hundreds, if not thousands, of people across Scotland, the country woke up to a carpet of yes stones on the morning of St Andrew’s Day.
The man who inspired the whole event, Iain McGlade of the Yes Stones Facebook page: “Myself and my partner Muriel Murray drove around on Friday night depositing them all over the place. We had great fun and distributed over 600 ourselves.
“Judging by the Facebook response we can safely say that tens of thousands of yes stones were laid as a carpet across Scotland.
“One woman we know took our yes stone that had ‘yes’ written in Hebrew to a local synagogue.
“It’s a bit early to think about the next one, but we know plenty people want to do it all again.”
The group’s Facebook page was full of stories and pictures, including one of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon taking one home from Lockerbie.
Norma Slimmon was the person responsible for that stone. She said: “In Lockerbie today, our First Minister took one of my yes stones. Cradled it like a precious jewel then slipped it in her pocket. I nearly died of excitement.”
Robert Adams reported: “A good night’s work after 100 yes stones placed around Airdrie town centre.”
Lesley Neill said: “Im still painting because I love it ... I’m also still planting ... if you are the same, great, because I think we just keep going, but a big group effort like last weekend would be mega for Hogmanay ... then Burns night ... then the biggie in April ... 700 year anniversary of Declaration of Arbroath.”
Sadly, there were still some people who didn’t like them.
Jen Russell reported: “My St Andrew’s day stones have went down like a lead balloon in Glenrothes south. They’ve either been kicked under bushes (which I have witnessed) or totally removed. The big boulders that I left at bus stops etc are not easily moved so I doubt very much that they’ve been carried away to a new location.”
Lorna Ross replied: “There were still loads of very visible stones left in Markinch late on St Andrews Day. I think folks were leaving them for the schoolkids to find the next day. Don’t be disheartened – get more out there! Put them around the schools; most parents see the importance of independence.”
Marjorie Furber reported: “Really chuffed to find these outside my house in Mearns, East Renfrewshire. The slate will stay and the Aye pebble will be going to a new home.”
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