Cameron has rivals licked

Jul 9 2008 The Journal

A BRAND of ice cream dreamt up by an 11-year-old boy is to go on sale at a Northumberland dairy after it was judged the cream of the crop in a competition.

Go Ape, a mixture including fresh bananas and chopped chocolate buttons, is the brainchild of Cameron Lord, a pupil at Newcastle’s Royal Grammar School and a member of Cool Cooks children’s cookery company’s after- school club.

It was his entry in a competition run for club members by the Cool Cooks – who produce children’s recipes for The Journal’s Taste campaign website – in partnership with Morwick Ice Cream Dairy, near Acklington.

Cool Cooks judges picked Cameron’s entry and it will now be made and sold at Morwick all season. Cameron, who lives at The Paddock in Wolsington, Weardale, was at the dairy yesterday to help staff make Go Ape. The modest youngster said: “I tried quite a few different ideas with my mam, it was nothing in particular.”

The competition has been run by the Cool Cooks, based in Newcastle, with the dairy for four years. Ice creams designed by previous winners are still on sale at Morwick.

The brief for entrants, aged nine to 11, was to produce an innovative ice cream.

Children were given the Easter holidays to come up with entries and a record total of more than 20 was received.

Cameron was chosen as the winner in May, with his use of fresh fruit a hit with the judges.

Cool Cooks’ Gillian Kenyon said: “The judging was very hard this year and we decided on the Go Ape ice cream because it had a good zany title. We had an awful time having to judge over 20 ice creams!”

The dairy’s Angie Howie said of Cameron’s idea: “It is quite a simple one – a lot of people like bananas, it is good to have the chocolate. It is a bit of a treat.”