West Sussex farm use sheep to thank the NHS - 'We wanted to show our appreciation with our own little twist'

A farmer and a teacher from Northchapel have thought of a unique way to thank those working to save lives during the coronavirus pandemic.
Rob Moss, with the help of his partnerEmily Stocker, spent a week trying to get the 'perfect picture' of his flock of sheepforming the letters to spell NHS.Rob Moss, with the help of his partnerEmily Stocker, spent a week trying to get the 'perfect picture' of his flock of sheepforming the letters to spell NHS.
Rob Moss, with the help of his partnerEmily Stocker, spent a week trying to get the 'perfect picture' of his flock of sheepforming the letters to spell NHS.

Rob Moss, with the help of his partner Emily Stocker, spent a week trying to get the 'perfect picture' of his flock of sheep forming the letters to spell NHS.

Emily, a local teacher and farm helper, said: "It was the day after lockdown and me and my partner were feeding the sheep. We decided we wanted to show our appreciation to the NHS during these unprecedented times so we spent a week creating our little project.

"We as a nation cannot thank the NHS enough.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"They are putting their lives at risk and going in with smiles on their faces and just keeping going. They are risking their lives dramatically and we wanted to do something to show our appreciation with our own little twist."

Emily said they started with the N which 'came out really well' but it took longer to do the other two letters because some of the sheep 'weren't playing ball'.

She added: "Rob also forgot how to draw an S one day and it ended up being a completely different shape.

"I had to run across the field with a sack pretending to feed the sheep while he prepared the food into an S so we could get the perfect picture.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"It was fun to do and we want as many NHS people to see it as possible. We haven't seen anyone else do it in this way.

"We owe it to the NHS and we appreciate what they do every day. I don't know if I could step foot inside a hospital right now."

As key workers, Rob and Emily have also been working hard through 'an emotional rollercoaster'.

Emily explained: "Being a teacher, we've still had to go in, coming into contact with parents from Covid-19 units.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"I cannot express how much teachers and all school staff are missing being in school and working with our pupils. We are loving all our virtual updates from pupils but it’s not quite the same.

"Caring for key worker children is the least we can do in helping the nation run how it needs during these unprecedented times.

"On the farm, we've also got to carry on. Farmers are working hard to feed the nation.

"We had a wet winter so crops are difficult at the moment. We've got to be more self-sufficient as a country at the moment and hopefully more people will buy British."

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.