PUPILS from two Tavistock schools have been busy painting their ‘young Elmers’ as part of the Elmer’s Big Parade project.

This summer 40 1.1m high multi-coloured elephants will be spread all over Plymouth as part of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the publication of the first Elmer – the Patchwork Elephant children’s book written by Tavistock born and educated David McKee.

The overall project has been co-ordinated by St Luke’s Hospice in Plymouth in partnership with Wild in Art and Andersen Press, the publisher of Elmer and it aims to bring this mass participation, family friendly, art trail to life featuring the much loved children’s character.

The ‘young Elmers’ are part of the educational programme organised by St Luke’s in which 25 schools in its catchment area have become involved. The programme not only offers the chance for schools to design and decorate their very own elephant but it also delivers an exciting and creative way of exploring some of the challenging issues such as diversity and loss that Elmer faced in his many adventures.

The Lions Club of Tavistock has part sponsored two ‘young Elmers’ which are in the process of being painted by the pupils of St Peter’s Junior School and Tavistock Primary and Nursery School. Once completed, they will go on display alongside other ‘young Elmers’ and at the end of the project they will be returned back to the schools.

A 1.1m high patchwork Elmer will be appearing in Tavistock’s Carnival procession on Saturday, July 20, the theme for this year being ‘children’s books’ chosen because of the town’s link to Elmer and the fact that it was suggested by one of last year’s participants.

Jan Meakin, president of the club, said: ‘We are really looking forward to seeing how the “children’s books” theme is interpreted as there is such a wide choice from the modern stories of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and a host of characters from David Walliams’ books to the classics of AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh to Enid Blyton’s Famous Five as well as Elmer.’

More detailed information about carnival 2019 can be found by going to the website www.tavistocklions.org.uk and the lions’ Facebook page.