Tales of the river bank came to Ruan Minor when the popular village theatre group staged another sell-out show.

Tickets were sold out weeks in advance for all four performances of Ruan Revellers’ production of Toad of Toad Hall, AA Milne’s stage play based on Kenneth Grahame’s classic book The Wind in the Willows.

It followed the adventures of Toad and his friends Ratty, Badger and Mole as they tried to get him out of scrapes involving an ill-advised motor-car, imprisonment, a daring escape and eventual triumph over his adversaries, the evil Wild Wooders.

The lead characters were backed up by a supporting cast of ferrets, stoats and weasels, field mice, rabbits and squirrels, all in an array of tails and ears.

The show involved a wide cross-section of the community, with the oldest performer being 87 years old and the youngest being ten.

Rehearsals began back in September, under the direction of Angela Agutter, who has years of experience in local opera and theatre, and involved around 30 people both on stage and back stage.

Such was the event’s success that there are already plans to stage a repeat open-air performance in late July.