Family keeping dog's memory alive around the world

A grieving family's creative project to keep the memory of their beloved dog alive is going global.

The Simpkins family, from Devizes in Wiltshire, lost their 13-year-old Australian Kelpie, Harvey, in August. To cope with their grief, they started painting rocks and hiding them in the town and surrounding areas for people to find.

Anybody who finds a rock is asked to post it on Harvey Rocks Facebook page, before hiding it again for somebody else. Some of the rocks found in Devizes have been taken to Spain and the United States.

Katie Simpkins said: "It's given us a way to talk about Harvey in a positive way and to distract away from the sadness a bit. It keeps his memory alive in a happy way."

Since the family started the project about three weeks ago, they have painted more than 60 rocks.

Katie said the family-of-four had always been creative, but they all struggled to do anything following Harvey's death.

But after they found a painted rock near their local library, the idea of Harvey's Rocks was born.

The rocks feature various designs including animals, objects and rubber ducks - which Harvey was particularly fond of.

Tris, Katie's husband, said: "We wanted to do something to help us remember Harvey.

"He was one of those very much larger than life character dogs.

"We're collecting rocks, painting them and literally now every evening when the kids are in bed we will sit down and paint rocks instead of going on our phones and watching TV," he added.

The family has hidden rocks in Devizes, Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.

A rock is also set to be left at the summit of Yr Wyddfa, also known as Snowdon, which the family climbed years ago in heavy snow with Harvey.

The family said they hope to continue the idea for as long as possible so Harvey's Rocks can travel "as far across the planet as possible".

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