Florence, one of the elephants of Herd In The City, is finally ‘Living the Dream’ as a zelephant.

Herd In The City’s 46 large elephant sculptures and 72 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.

The elephant, currently the most liked on the Herd In The City app, is designed by artist Jenny Sexton and sponsored by Unitruc Ltd.

Florence has forgotten she’s an elephant. Or has she? Maybe she’s remembered her heart’s desire and is simply expressing her inner zebra? Florence is finally showing her true colours and is happily living as a zelephant.

‘Living the Dream’ artist Jenny says, “I feel so honoured to have been chosen as an artist for this project; it means so much to me. Towards the end of the pandemic, Havens Hospices offered free bereavement counselling to anyone affected adversely by Covid.

“My mum died of cancer seven weeks into lockdown, and due to the restrictions, I could not spend this precious time with her. The counselling offered by Havens Hospices enabled me to reorder my thoughts so that I could start to work through the pain.

“I always wanted to be an artist, but circumstances led me to a career in banking instead. Florence is finally showing her true colours and expressing her inner zelephant because she’s fed up with being just grey. I can relate to Florence. Like so many people these days, we both feel we now have the freedom to be exactly who we want to be. We are finally ‘Living the Dream’.”

After the trail ends, the large sculptures will be auctioned to raise money for Havens Hospices.

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.

Trail-goers can purchase a map from our Havens Hospices charity shop and other venues, including the Pier Information Centre, The Forum, Leigh-on-Sea Library and Herd HQ at The Royals Shopping Centre. There is also a ‘Herd In The City’ app, which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play now.