Village's huge England message seen from the sky

A village is showing its support for England with a huge message that can be seen from the sky.

Before the 2002 World Cup, residents of Chelmorton, near Buxton, wrote out the word England in stones on a steep field.

Since then, before every European Championship and World Cup, villagers paint the letters white so they can be seen for miles around.

Air passengers have reported seeing the word, which is about 150ft (46m) long, from aeroplanes making their descent to Manchester Airport.

The painting of the stones is organised each year by Phil Swindell, 56, whose cousin owns the field.

"We thought we would do something for England," he said.

"We made [the shape of] the letters out of ropes so they were all the same size and then we carted them [the rocks] up the hill."

The stones remain in the field all the time, but last weekend a team of volunteers went up the hill to paint them white.

Although England have not won a major tournament since 1966, Swindell is confident that they will win this one because of the form of Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham.

Harry Satur, 24, who is Swindell's nephew, was one of the helpers.

He said: "I think it is the right thing to do. You can do whatever you want with flags and stuff like that, but no-one else is writing it (England) on a big hill.

"I think everyone should be doing stuff like that for the World Cup and the Euros."

Andy Petrie, 54, who also helped paint the stones, said many people had spotted them.

"Lots of people have commented on it. Some of my friends have said 'who has done that England sign?'

"There are lots of comments on Facebook from people who have seen it."

Chelmorton resident Robert Innes said it had given the village a boost.

He added: "You can see it for miles around. People come to the village just to see it so it brings business here. It puts it on the map.

"When you see it, you go 'wow look at that'. It's huge and it's great. It's just there and in your face."

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