March of the Elephants in Boldmere

March of the Elephants was an ele-fantastic art trail for showcasing 30 large elephants and over 40 mini elephants across Sutton Coldfield, Lichfield and Tamworth organised by St Giles Hospice in partnership with Wild-in-Art. Boldmere was the main location in Sutton Coldfield with 4 elephants and 10 mini elephants.  At the end of the trail, the large elephants were auctioned to raise £125,000 for St Giles Hospice.  However, we were able to keep ‘Where’s Ellie‘ who sits proudly outside of Tesco.

The trail took place from 1st July until 8th September.  Download the original trail map here.

Boldmere hosted these large elephants:

• Where’s Ellie
  Designed by: Donna Newman
  Financed by: Boldmere Neighourhood Forum
  Location: outside Tesco Express
• Olivia
  Designed by Gill Prendergast
  Sponsored by: FIT Midlands
  Location: outside The Deli
• Cheesey Does It
  Designed by: Anne Bardsley
  Sponsored by: The Deli
  Location: opposite St Giles Shop by Boldmere Post Office
• Connie the Calf
  Designed by: Reilly Creative
  Sponsored by: Roto Spa
  Location: Boldmere Gate, Sutton Park

Boldmere also hosted the following smaller elephants as part of the learning and community programme:

St Giles Shop window:

• Shaba
  Created by Adopt Birmingham
• Hope
  Created by: Real Life Church
  Funded by: Boldmere Neighbourhood Forum

Roto Spa Showroom window (by Newman Community Centre and Sutton Car Wash):

• Hope Trunkingham
  Created by: Deanery Church of England Primary School
• Maney Milly
  Created by Maney Hill Primary School
• Growing Together
  Created by: Boldmere Infant School
  Funded by: Sutton Rose Care Home
• Emma
  Created by: Cherished (see video below of Emma being created by the girls at Cherished)
  Funded by: Boldmere Neighbourhood Forum

Communitea Café window

• Bold Billy
  Created by: Age Concern Birmingham
  Funded by: Boldmere Neighbourhood Forum
• Ellie
  Created and funded by: Little Riply Day Nurseries
  Supported by: Boldmere Neighbourhood Forum
• Velma the Values Elephant
  Created by: Sladefield Infant School

Watch the creation of Cherished’s elephant Emma:

The artists’ ‘blurb’ for each elephant

Where’s Ellie

Dressed in her iconic striped jumper and glasses, and armed with a satchel full of equipment, Ellie is on the lookout for a hidden herd of mini elephants.

The giant magnifying glass depicts a collection of colourfully patterned pachyderms, each one with a partner (or two?) hidden somewhere about the sculpture. All are adorned with patterns and motifs relevant to Boldmere. How many can you find?

Olivia

‘Olivia’ Let’s get physical! Olivia is partial to leotards and leg-warmers and doesn’t care that she has hairy legs, so whatever your size and ability… be like Olivia! Put on your favourite exercise gear and get moving!​

Cheesey Does It

This design is a play on a couple of common misconceptions, firstly that elephants are scared of mice, and secondly that mice love cheese. The elephant myth originates from a 77 AD Greek fable that a mouse once climbed up inside an elephant’s trunk and “drove him crazy”. The cheese myth goes back to medieval times when mice were commonly found nibbling on cheese in store cupboards, but this is likely due to the fact it was easy to come by rather than an inherent hunger for it. So with this in mind, the sculpture is reimagined to look like it is made of cheese with little mice living inside to fully lay the myths to rest.​

Connie the Calf

Did you know a baby elephant is called a calf? Normally when we think of a calf our head goes straight to a baby cow. Here the elephant is transformed into Connie the Calf. Did you know that cows also have a link to Sutton Coldfield? You can find them roaming happily around Sutton Park. There have been cows there for hundreds of years and have helped to maintain the diversity of habitats and plant communities in the park.

Shaba

‘Shaba’ includes a colourful ampersand and icon which represents connection.

Hope

Hope the Elephant has been fully welcomed into our Real Life Church community who have placed their hand prints all over our bright design – young and old! Community, joy and belonging are represented in the vibrant patterns and words of hope. We encourage you to join in and find a place for you to belong!

Hope Trunkingham

Our design is two-sided. One representing the sunset over the African plains and the other representing the life in the seas. It ties in with our school motto – To the greater glory of God, and that the world around us reflects God’s glory.

Maney Millie

On the elephant is a tree that reflects our school badge. We linked this to a memory tree where the children incorporated all their memories and values from school.

Growing Together

Our elephant was created by the pupils of Boldmere Primary School and residents of our Sutton Rose Care Home. It’s a colourful celebration of all ages and encapsulates the motto written on the elephants back ‘Growing together’.

Emma

An elephant never forgets! When children look at Emma, our elephant, we want them to never forget how Cherished they are. The use of flowers and nature represents that every child has the potential to Blossom.

Bold Billy

Here at Age Concern Birmingham we aim to make a positive difference to the lives of older people and others in need. Many people as they get older say to us they feel invisible and forgotten and we want to change that, so welcome Bold Billy – he’s bright so he stands out and as an elephant he never forgets. So let Billy represent all those who need to be seen and remembered.

Ellie

Ellie has a pink baby grow, show casing the children’s handprints and the Nursery logo.

Velma

We worked as a school to represent our 6 values. Each class had to design a patch for Velma that represented the value that had been allocated. Our values are respect, resilience, achievement, enjoyment, equality and friendship.