Believe it or ‘nut’, one of the baby elephants from the Herd In The City trail has been made up of hundreds of nuts and bolts from a ‘factory floor’.
The sculpture, named P-Nut, which has been wowing trail goers, was created by Ipeco, a world leader in aircraft crew and executive jet passenger seating.
Originally designed by the company’s Finance Director, Sarah Nash, it took three months for several employees to construct the baby elephant.
The elephant, weighing 33.5 kgs, is the heaviest baby in the mini herd thanks to the nuts and bolts stuck to it, usually used for aeroplane seats and galley units. It even has a bespoke coat made from a seatbelt and sheepskin normally used on pilot seats.
Kaye Mercene, one of the apprentices involved in the project, says, “I wanted to do something creative, so I asked to volunteer as an opportunity to get involved.
“It was a challenge to get the nuts and bolts to stick, so we had to experiment with different types of glue. We did try to count the number of nuts and bolts but lost count after a while!”
P-Nut can be found in the window of the entrance to Southend-on-Sea’s award-winning pier with his girlfriend Twinkle Toes, a bejewelled baby elephant.
Herd In The City’s 46 large elephant sculptures and baby elephants have stomped into the streets of the Southend-on-Sea, Shoeburyness and Leigh-on-Sea and will be in place until Monday 4 September.
Havens Hospices provides specialist care and support for people of all ages living with incurable conditions and their families. This care and support includes everyone, extending to partners, family and friends to make sure the right support is there for patients and the people who matter to them, where and when they need it.
The care is provided absolutely free of charge and is only made possible thanks to donations and fundraising initiatives such as Herd In The City.
After the trail ends, the large and baby sculptures will join together to say goodbye at the ‘Farewell Weekend’ on 23 & 24 September at Saxon Hall. This unique opportunity will allow people to see all the large and baby elephant sculptures in one place after their summer showcase across Southend-on-Sea. Find out more and book tickets at www.herdinthe.city/farewell