THE cast of The Wind in the Willows celebrated the arrival of a new van donated to York Theatre Royal by Caddick Construction and Oakgate Group PLC.

The Yorkshire businesses, which have worked jointly for 36 weeks on the construction of the highly anticipated £90 million Vangarde Shopping Park at Monks Cross, responded to the theatre’s appeal, after deciding they wanted to give something back to their local community.

Paul Caddick, chairman of Caddick Group, said: “The sponsorship of the theatre van allows the Vangarde Shopping Park teams to leave a legacy of their hard work behind, whilst linking the local arts with businesses from across the region.”

Liz Wilson, chief executive of York Theatre Royal said: “Their generosity means we now have a new and reliable van, which is really important as we will be working at a number of locations during the theatre’s major redevelopment project.”