In England, there are these sort of pop-up sculpture trails, where a charity will pick a specific animal and create loads of statues that appear all around an area. Previously, Dann and I checked out the Penguins by the seaside! This time, however, Lions on the Loose have come to our town as they are placed around Harlow, Essex and Loughton. There are over 64 lions to find, all of which have been adopted by local schools, businesses, and charities and then decorated. In our town centre alone, there are tons of them!
Robin’s school actually painted one of the smaller lions, which has ended up in our town’s library, so that was one of the ones we actually just had to find. Some of the lions are larger with big names while others are the smaller lions that were made by scout groups or schools. All of the places that have adopted these lions have donated to St. Claire Hospice – which has a location in Harlow. We did a big walk around our town, a few times, spotting as many lions as we could. There is a lion that’s dedicated to those who have passed, which you can add names to with a £35 or more donation, so we added Dann’s late sibling, Amy, to it. At the end of her life, she had been well cared for at St. Claire Hospice, so it felt very fitting.
I have also been to Loughton since, seeing lions outside their fire station and by their train station, which is quite cute. Robin and Amelia liked walking around and seeing the designs of these lions – some of the Lions on the Loose are designed to reflect materials or local places, adding a bit of their own vibe to each one. It’s neat to see what people came up with! When the Lions on the Loose event is done, on September 10th, all of the lions are going to be auctioned off, with even more money being raised for St. Claire Hospice. People can also pay for a mobile app that works as a map for all of the lions in and around the areas, checking off the ones they have found, to add a bit more fun to the hunt.
You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!