A new addition to the van fleet of property maintenance company PPM Limited has been given a colourful makeover by young artists from Millom Infant School.
Pupils were asked by PPM to design new livery for their van that travels across the South Lakes area.
PPM joined forces with the school because of its close link with housing association Home Group, which owns many of the homes on the school’s surrounding estates.
The school is also a close neighbour of the PPM South Lakes office, the Bradbury Centre, in Millom.
Youngsters were asked to create a piece of artwork based on what their local community means to them.
The winning design was created by Zack Holmes and can now be seen around South Lakeland on the bonnet of the brand-new PPM van.
Zack focused on the local beachfront and well known Hodbarrow Lighthouse at the old Millom Ironworks, now an RSPB Nature Reserve.
The entries were judged by PPM’s managing director, Gordon McGregor and Home Group’s design and brand manager, Andy Crawley.
Gordon said: “The competition allows the pupils to be creative and feel involved with the community and it gets our vans noticed by people while they’re out and about, so it’s a win for everyone really.”
“We are looking forward to building our relationship further with the school by talking to students about the range of career opportunities in construction and their local community.
“We look to inspire the children at an early age and promote the industry to the girls as we have a serious lack of females taking up roles in construction.”
Andy said: “All the entries were brilliant, so it was really hard to make a decision. Everyone who entered should be very proud of what they did.
“I loved all the designs with the lighthouse in them, but this was the best because it’s so bright and colourful and will make everyone smile when they see the van out and about. The lighthouse is obviously a big part of the community.”
The unveiling of the winning design took place in the school playground at Millom Infant School this week.
Millom Mayor, Ruth Peter, was there as well as PPM operations supervisor for South Lakes and the Millom area, Antony Whitelock, and Home Group surveyor, Matt Bradshaw.
Zack won shopping vouchers worth £30, and the runner-up received a £15 voucher. All the children that took part got a hand-written thank you card, a PPM replica toy van and some sweet treats.