A herd of painted elephants were dotted around intu Watford on Friday, as part of a national parade to raise money for the conservation of the Asian Elephant.

More than two dozen elephants will be at the Watford shopping centre for four weeks of the Elephant Parade, before they move onto their next shopping centre in the country.

Watford Observer:

At each leg of their journey they will be joined by six community designed elephants.

Artistic pupils from Rickmansworth School, in Croxley Green, and St Joan of Arc, in Rickmansworth, were given the chance to see their work displayed on one of the six community designed elephant statues.

The winning entries were painted onto the statues and will be taken from centre to centre as part of the national Elephant Parade.

Trevor Pereira, Commercial Director at intu said: "We’re thrilled to be opening the tour at intu Watford before it moves on to other towns and cities. The local team has lots planned for the four weeks Elephant Parade is in Watford, including some fabulous school elephants from the local community that will join the tour herd.

"Some of the national artists will be visiting intu Watford to run elephant painting weekends and there will be opportunities for people to learn about the conservation issues. Additionally, if people want to buy little replicas of their favourite elephants, there will be an elephant shop in store for the duration of the tour. It’s going to be a fun month and on behalf of the intu team, everyone’s invited!"

The elephant line up aims to bring together artistic creations from around the UK and many of the designs make reference to British culture. They feature aeroplanes, cathedrals and fishing villages, strawberry ice cream, classic British sweets, banana leaves, and a modern Union jack.