Young Patients ‘shake it up’ for Archie’s Milkshake competition

Two young patients at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital have won a competition in conjunction with Archie’s, to invent their very own milkshake at the popular North West Eatery. The winning milkshakes will be sold in all three Archie’s stores with £1.50 from every shake going directly towards Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity.

Patients from across all wards in the children’s hospital enthusiastically took to designing their unique blends as part of the ‘Create-a-shake’ competition. Archie’s received many entries featuring a whole range of ingredients, and after an exciting elimination process, including a tasting round Archie’s Team selected the two winning concoctions.

The lucky winners were 8 year old Libby Dargan from Droylsden and 11 year old Victoria Taylor from Urmston. Libby’s ‘Minty Magic’ milkshake included Mint Aero and After Eight, topped with whipped cream, flake and magic stars whilst Victoria designed a ‘Classic Chocolate’ shake, made with dairy milk and fresh strawberries, topped with whipped cream, flake and strawberries.

The 'Create-a-Shake’ competition is the first fundraising activity for Archie’s new charitable scheme, The Archie’s Foundation. The unique burger, shake and waffle restaurant has set up the initiative in a bid to give back to the local community and have chosen to support Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital as its first charity. The fundraising will go towards the charity’s ‘Many Hands’ campaign which is raising vital funds towards building a 24-hour access helipad at the central Manchester hospital site.

Director of Archie’s, Imran Rafiq commented:

“As the first official activity for The Archie’s Foundation, I am delighted with how everything has gone so far. The initial competition entries from the children were fantastic and it was very difficult to select a winner, which is why we ended up with two!

As a father myself, I certainly appreciate the outstanding work that the hospital does on a daily basis, so it felt only natural to work with Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity, and bringing the winning children to enjoy the Archie’s experience was a great start in our ‘giving back to the community’ motto.

Both the girls and their families had a wonderful time, especially meeting Humphrey Bear, Ryan Thomas, a long-time friend of Archie’s and our charity ambassador, and getting stuck in to blend their own shakes.

The winning creations are now on sale in all of our stores and we hope they will complete the whole event by raising lots of money for the Charity and the campaign.”

As part of their prize the two youngsters visited Archie’s where they got to blend and taste their milkshakes and were also treated to a visit from Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity’s mascot, Humphrey Bear who presented the girls with special certificates. Charity Ambassador of Archie’s Foundation and Coronation Street star Ryan Thomas delighted Libby and Victoria, and their mums, when he stopped by to meet the girls and sample the winning milkshakes.

Joel Oxberry, Corporate Fundraising Manager at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity, added:

“We are delighted that Archie’s have not only chosen to support our charity, but have also given our patients the chance to be involved in such an exciting competition. We would like to say a huge well done to Libby and Victoria, their milkshakes tasted delicious and we’re sure they will be hugely popular with customers dining at Archie’s. All monies raised will help bring us one step closer towards our Helipad Appeal target, so we are incredibly thankful to Imran and all the team at Archie’s for their support.”