Southend artist John Bulley has joined the “Herd” and began to paint the Echo’s very own elephant sculpture for the Herd In The City art trail.

The Echo is the proud media partner for the art trail which is set to take place this summer.

Following the success of his design ‘Rusty’ from Hares About Town in 2021, which raised £6,500 for local hospice care, John wanted to get involved again, so he decided to put forward a design for this year’s art trail.

Chris Hatton, regional editor-in-chief, said: “John Bulley is renowned with the city of Southend, so it made perfect sense to choose him as our artist for the trail.

“Herd In The City is going to be a great draw for visitors to the city, as well as bringing the community together to raise money for a worthy cause, Havens Hospices, which provides free palliative nursing and supportive care to adults and children living with complex or incurable conditions.”

Behind the scenes - John at work to create the Echo's Herd elephant (Image: Havens Hospices)

Although the design is still top secret, John gives little insight into what people can expect from his design.

“People tend to take the mick out of people in Essex, saying we like things blingy, so I wanted to make the sculpture blingy, but in a good way. It’s not something we should be ashamed of, it’s a celebration of Southend and bling!”

Herd In The City, a public art trail created by Havens Hospices and Wild in Art, will see over 45 large elephant sculptures placed around the streets of Southend, Shoeburyness and Leigh from Friday July 14 to Monday September 4. Following the end of the trail, the elephants will be sold at auction.

Herd In The City is made possible thanks to Presenting Partner Southend City Council, Official Event Partners, BTMK Solicitors, Method IT, Ayers & Cruiks and c2c, plus Rickard Luckin as the Learning Programme Partner, Atlantic Pacific as the Logistics Partner, Echo Newspaper as the Media Partner, Main Media as the Photography and Videography Partner, and 6rs as the Creative Partner.

See www.herdinthe.city or follow herdinthe.city on Instagram and @herdinthecity on Twitter and Facebook.