LORRIES full of giant snowdogs have moved into their new kennel after a 891 mile journey across Europe to Brighton.

After travelling through the night for two days, some 24 weary 1.5 metre white sculptures of the popular children's character were carried into their kennel in the basement of the Rendezvous Casino yesterday morning to rest their heads.

The Argus:

Volunteers and Martlets staff begin to unload the unusual cargo

The 40kg models, which will take part in a charity arts trail later this year, left the factory where they were born, near Wroclaw in southern Poland, on Monday morning wrapped in cardboard, bubble wrap and armed with their passports.

They travelled by road in two lorries through Germany, Holland, Belgium to Calais in France where they crossed the English Channel to Dover by ferry. Then they made the two hour, 100 mile final leg of their journey through Kent to Sussex, finally arriving at the casino in Brighton Marina at about 9am.

This batch of pooches will be joined by almost 20 more friends when another lorry full of snowdogs arrives on July 15. The basement will be their kennel for the next few months while they take trips out to a studio where they will be decorated by artists.

Once their new looks are completed the 43 models will be unleashed onto the city's streets in the art trail between September and November to raise money for The Martlets Hospice.

Several will be dotted around the marina which is one of a number of businesses sponsoring the project.

The Argus:

Unwrapping begins to make sure the snowdogs arrived in one piece

Volunteers Liam Evans and his friend Ben Pugh, a 19-year-old University of Southampton student, gave up their time to help five other Martlets staff unload the dogs.

Liam, 18, said: "I've just finished school and am about to take a gap year before applying to study medicine at university. I really wanted to volunteer at The Martlets and was happy to help with heavy lifting when they called up. I had no idea what it was for so it was fun to arrive and see what we were unpacking."

Roxanne Malan, the casino's marketing manager, said: "Never in all my experience working in casinos have we stored something like this - it's really fun. "We have the space, it is normally used to store casino equipment. So when we learned The Martlets needed somewhere to store them we were happy to support the cause."

The Argus:

Staff from the Rendezvous and the unloading team give one of the sculptures a bit of fresh air at the end of the unpacking session

Sarah Harvey, of The Martlets, thanked the casino for the space as it had proved difficult to find storage space large enough in the city to store such unusual cargo.

The Argus is the media partner for the Martlets Hospice and Wild Art Snowdogs by the Sea project. To get involved contact Sarah Harvey at The Martlets Hospice on 01273 718797, email sarah.harvey@martlets.org.uk or visit snowdogsbythesea.co.uk

The 891-mile snowdog journey across Europe

Mid-morning Monday: Set off from factory near Wroclaw, Poland, travelling through the night via Germany and Holland in two lorries.

Tuesday: Pass through Belgium and France taking time for a power nap and break to stretch paws

Tuesday evening: Hop on ferry at Calais across the English Channel to arrive at Dover port

Wednesday morning: Final leg of the journey - a 100 mile drive through Kent to Sussex

9am: Arrive at new kennel at Rendezvous Casino, Brighton Marina, to rest before a make over and meeting new owners