BACK in July, The National reported on the small but growing phenomenon of the Yes stones.

Brainchild of the artist Alison Rollo, the Yes stones are large pebbles originally painted with a Saltire and the word Yes – they are now multi-coloured and bearing all sorts of slogans – which independence activists are leaving out to be found around the country and indeed across the world.

The National can reveal that there is now a very successful Facebook Yes stones group which has nearly 2000 keen stone-painting members.

Rollo began the initiative at her local Yes group in Pitlochry earlier this year and is delighted that the Yes stones are gaining in popularity worldwide.

“Tourists came to our Yes Pitlochry stall recently,” she explained. “And two went off to New Zealand and another one to Canada.”

The latest project ties in with the All Under One Banner march in Edinburgh on Saturday.

Rollo said: “We are all taking a stone or two or three to the Parliament at the march on Saturday and we are going to make a Yes stones cairn outside the security bollards.

“We were inspired by history. The Highlanders who went to battle with the English took a stone with them to make a cairn at the battlefield and then took one home after the battle – it let them know how many casualties they had suffered, and it was also to bring them luck.

“We are asking all the marchers to take one home with them and ‘plant’ it where they live to spread the message. We are writing #yesstones and the place of origin to make it interesting for the ‘finders’.”