Emojis put a smile on hay

GIANT smiley-face ‘emojis’, used in texts or online to convey emotions, may be popping up on hay bales in fields across Scotland this year in a competition supporting a charity for seriously-ill children, WellChild.

Farmers will be challenged to create their emoji-inspired displays from silage bales wrapped in WellChild’s colour purple. They can customise their bales with special emoji packs provided by agricultural suppliers, Carrs Billington.

Anyone can take part in the competition, and the company asks anyone who spots an emoji bale to take a picture on their phone, tag the location and post it on social media, including @ CarrsBillington and the hashtag #spottedpurple. Each time a person does this with a photo of different bales they will be entered into a draw to win £200 of its shop vouchers.

It will also be donating at least £10,000 this year to support the charity, and encouraging farmers and contractors to show their support by choosing to buy purple silage wrap and netwrap from Zeus Packaging Group.

WellChild chief executive Colin Dyer said: ‘The hay bale emojis will be a fantastic sight in fields all across the country and the money which is raised by the farming community will go to support children with serious and complex health conditions to live a better, happier life.’