A dancing elephant will grace the streets of Watford this weekend to raise money for a cancer centre.

Thankfully this is not a case of animal abuse – rather the act of an altruistic man trying to raise as much money as he can for the chemotherapy suite at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Northwood.

Ben Baldwin, a 39-year-old production manager from South Oxhey, is donning a stuffy elephant costume to dance outside McDonald’s in High Street for a mammoth eight hours, starting at 8am and finishing at 4pm.

“We’re hoping to have a massive response from people in the town. It’s all about raising awareness,” he said.

Ben is raising money for Mount Vernon in honour of his best friend’s mother, who died after battling cancer for ten years.

Ben added: “She loved the staff there and everything about the place. Before she died she said ‘when I go, I want you to do something for them’.

“We just want to do her justice and help somebody else out at the same time.”

And it will be hard to miss Ben with bright balloons and a gazebo forming part of the fundraising effort.