ICE-CREAM producers near York have pledged to support good causes in 30 different ways to help celebrate their 30th anniversary.

Yorvale Ice Cream, in Acaster Malbis, was established in 1989 and uses the milk from their own dairy herd of 45 Friesian cows to manufacture real dairy ice cream and kefir products.

The farm-turned-ice-cream factory decided against a party to toast the milestone in favour of something more personal to staff.

The Yorvale team decided they would prefer to help certain local charities in as many ways as they could.

So far this has seen members of staff volunteering at St Leonard’s Hospice’s sorting centre in Acomb, as well as donating ice-cream prizes to raffles for the Farming Community Network, Antibiotic Research and York Carers.

Ice-cream was also given to Leeds Children’s Hospital for a special prom night and also to Bereaved Children’s Support in York for one of their free drop-in sessions.

A year’s supply of ice cream was also donated as a prize at an auction of promises, organised to fund a centre for disabled children in York.

Lesley Buxton who set up Yorvale with her husband Ian said: “We asked members of the team which charities they felt we should be helping, so the pledge was really personal to us.”

Yorvale Ice Cream started out in 1989, making 12 flavours of ice cream and 90 litres an hour.

Today, the couple have 1,350m² of space in which to process fresh cow’s milk which moves just 100 metres from cow to dairy each day to be made into Yorvale ice cream, kefir drinking yoghurt and frozen kefir.

Thirty years after their first taste of the market, the Buxtons’ ice cream is available nationwide via selected wholesalers and from independent retailers, visitor attractions, and supermarkets throughout Yorkshire.

Yorvale now has 40 flavours of ice cream, 10 types of sorbet, a non-dairy ice cream and a kefir drink, and its capacity has increased to 1,900 litres per hour.

The business also provides employment for a team of 21, including themselves, and has won countless awards for enterprise.

Yorvale recently enjoyed success in the Great Taste Awards, receiving two one-star awards for their mango and passionfruit kefir and their Jaffa Orange kefir ice cream, a brand-new product.

Sea Salted Caramel was awarded a two-star Great Taste award.