Sheffield elephant sculpture trail unveiled

The first designs for the elephants have been unveiled

The first of more than 40 elephant statues set to form a public art trail dubbed the 'Herd of Sheffield' has been unveiled.

Sculptures will be placed across the city between July and September next year before being auctioned in aid of the Children's Hospital Charity.

The first elephants were unveiled at the Winter Garden.

The project has been developed by the Children's Hospital Charity and Wild in Art.

Rebecca Staden, manager of the Herd, said: "We have chosen elephants to mark 100 years since Lizzie the elephant was used in Sheffield's steel industry to help the war effort."

Lizzie, the Indian Elephant, was put to work in Sheffield during World War One after the military purchased most of England's horses and sent them to the Western Front

Event organisers are calling on firms to sponsor each sculpture before they are designed by selected artists.

Similar projects held in other cities have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity.