There is a creative craze making people happy and children smile that’s sweeping through Hyndburn - and it totally rocks.

Youngsters big and small have been putting down their games consoles and ignoring their mobile phones to take part in the exciting new hobby that is taking the area by storm.

The idea is simple: find some stones, paint and varnish them however you like and then hide them for people to find.

The ‘Ossyrocks’ and ‘2nd Rishton Guiding Rocks’ groups have been set up on Facebook and have gained a loyal and passionate following of nearly 500 members in just a few weeks.

Some of the colourful designs include people’s faces, animals and popular story characters.

Ann Warrington, who chairs the Friends of Rhyddings Park committee, founded the Ossyrocks group after being inspired by a similar initiative in Ramsbottom.

Iona Colley, aged 5 from Rishton Methodist Brownies

She said: “A couple of weeks ago I was sat on a Sunday afternoon thinking ‘what should I do now?’ and OssyRocks happened.

“I thought nobody would join the Facebook group but by the end of the evening we had 260 people joined and rocks started appearing around Oswaldtwistle.

“Literally kids have been painting rocks with lots of designs with #OssyRocks and people get excited and put the picture on Facebook.

“I’m just gobsmacked by how much it’s taken off. It’s amazing.

Rocks painted and decorated by children and hidden around Oswaldtwistle

“So if you want to paint some rocks then go for it. If they can travel and you can take them on your holidays then that would be phenomenal. We want to see how far we can get the OssyRocks.”

Katy Rider, a Guide Leader at the 2nd Rishton Methodist Brownies, said it is helping to put a ‘smile’ on people’s faces.

She said: “It was the idea of a Guide leader called Denise.

“She had seen other people across the country doing it on Facebook and thought there was nothing like that in Rishton.

“There’s a few of us who run Guides, Brownies and Rainbows at the church and we thought it would be a good project to do. We bought a load in bulk and had a night where we all painted and decorated rocks.

“The idea is if it puts a smile on somebody’s face that they found the rock then great.

“We have set up a Facebook page and a lot of people have been posting their pictures on there.”