Islanders challenged to spot donkey stones in St Saviour’s

Parish church congregation members, along with friends and family, have painted 500 rocks for the fifth Nativity Rocks project.

Rock project leader Clare Glynn-Riley has been coordinating the effort.

It started five years ago and features individuals as they appear in the nativity story.

So far Jesus, the Angel, Mary and Joseph have all featured.

And now it is the turn of the donkey.

‘This is the first time we have done an animal,’ said Mrs Glynn-Riley.

‘We have a WhatsApp group, so we come up with a design and everyone can have an opinion.’

They started working on this year’s stones a few weeks ago.

They used Scottish cobbles bought from a local garden centre, which were then painted with acrylic paint and a weatherproof varnish.

The design was kept quite simple and volunteers of all ages have got involved.

The next step was to put the stones around the parish.

A map of the parish has been broken up into areas, with different groups responsible for specific sites, which will ensure the stones are scattered all around the parish, right up to the parish boundaries.

Popular spots in the past have been around the parish church, the community centre, St Apolline Chapel and the reservoir, but they could be anywhere in the parish.

‘We don’t hide them too much, as we want people to find them,’ Mrs Glynn-Riley said.

The hunt launches tomorrow and over the two weeks more stones will be added. Islanders are asked to only take one per family to ensure there are enough for everyone.

Among the hundreds of stones will be one special stone, designed by artist Peter Le Vasseur.

It is hoped the stones will encourage islanders to think about the Christian meaning of Christmas.

‘We want to bring people back to the nativity story, so it is not about elves and Father Christmas,' said Mrs Glynn-Riley.

‘This is to get people to think about the real meaning of Christmas.’

The idea of painting Jesus stones for Christmas was spotted in the UK, with the year painted on the back.

And during the first year in Guernsey, Mrs Glynn-Riley was asked which character they would paint next year, which inspired the annual change in design.

It has not been decided what will feature on next year’s stones.

‘We are not sure if we will do an innkeeper, or do a shepherd and some sheep,’ she said.

The last day of the event will be 30 November.

The following day, Sunday 1 December, there will be a ‘rock service’ at the parish church at 3pm.

The family service will see people bring along their donkey rocks,

sing donkey songs and have a special guest appearance from a real donkey.

• The parish church organised a dress-up photoshoot for islanders to recreate the nativity last year to raise money for charity. The idea is being rested this year, but may return in future years.