Yahoo News Young cancer patients help design ice cream flavour ahead of Children's Cancer Run
Pupils at Rockcliffe First School in Whitley Bay prepared for this year's Children's Cancer Run by tasting a very special new ice cream flavour.
Children's Cancer North - the charity which runs the annual Children's Cancer Run - has partnered with Northumberland's Ciccarelli Artisan Gelato to create the fundraising flavour. Pupils at Rockcliffe were chosen to be the first to taste it as the school holds the Sandy Weir Memorial Trophy, in honour of the fundraising efforts of its staff and pupils.
The ice cream flavour "orange biscuit crunch" was launched in the run-up to this year's Children's Cancer Run, which takes place on Sunday May 19 at Newcastle Racecourse. The run seeks to raise funds to support cancer care and research benefitting youngsters in the North East and beyond.
Abigail Hewison, head of charity at Children’s Cancer North, said: “The ideas for the ice cream flavour came from the children on the children's cancer wards at the Great North Children's Hospital, and we then worked with Domenico and the team at Ciccarelli to come up with one that would sell."
The first youngsters to taste it were 30 children from Rockcliffe First School who are set to take part in this weekend's fundraising run.
Abigail said the "most amazing thing" had been that Ciccarelli will support the charity in a range of ways - both selling the fundraising flavour to raise cash, helping serve runners at the charity's fundraising events such as this weekend's event and even putting the charity's logo on its ice cream tubs.
She added: "Ciccarelli's will be helping to fund research taking place in Newcastle that will have a real impact on children with cancer. That helps children diagnosed in the North East, but also supports those much further afield, too."
As for the design process, Abigail added: "Who better to design our new flavour than the inspiring children and young people we help support at the Great North Children’s Hospital. There were so many inventive flavour creations to choose from it was difficult to pick a winner, but one entry really stood out for its burst of orange that matches the charity brand colour of Children’s Cancer North."
Ciccarelli Artisan Gelato, which is based in Blyth, began supporting Children’s Cancer North in 2023. Domenico Gregorio from Ciccarelli said: "We’re incredibly proud to support Children’s Cancer North and help raise awareness of the amazing work the charity does.
"By donating a proportion of all sales of the new ice cream to the charity we’re joining hundreds of other supporters in helping fund world-leading cancer research to make treatments less harsh and more effective for patients. We’re also ensuring Children’s Cancer North can continue to provide children and families from across the North East and Cumbria with the support they need both on and off the hospital wards."
Domenico said that his family knew youngsters going through a cancer journey. He said: "It feels like cancer in children is probably one of the hardest things in life. For us as a business, we make ice cream - and we cheer kids up. That's what we do."
He added: "As you get older, and as a parent, I have known families where they live with cancer, and we just want to do what we can."
The Children’s Cancer Run at Newcastle Racecourse is now in its 41st year. The annual cross country fun run, and accompanying Children’s Cancer Run At School programme, is the UK’s biggest single charity fun run; attracting more than 10,000 runners and spectators every year.
The 2024 Children’s Cancer Run takes place on Sunday May 19 at Newcastle Racecourse. To find out more, visit childrenscancernorth.org.uk. The charity - which has raised more than £40m since 1979 - was formed when the North of England Children’s Cancer Research and Children’s Cancer Fund charities merged in 2021.
