Amelie’s day at Allergy & Free From Show, London!
Back in July, the Coeliac UK team were thrilled to return to the Allergy and Free From Show, London. A fantastic event, with lots of guests at our stand – including one of our very special Young Champions: Amelie, and her Mum!
It was the first time Amelie and her Mum @kids.coeliac.dietitian had been to the show since Amelie was diagnosed with coeliac disease 7 years ago, so we caught up with her to find out more about her experience, along with Charlie Bear, in our first Young Champions interview blog below.
Q. Amelie, what were you most excited about coming to the show?
Amelie - I was most excited about seeing the Coeliac UK stand and excited to see how everything around me was gluten free! I was excited to not have to worry about foods not being safe for me. I was excited about meeting other children with coeliac disease too!
Q. What did you think about the show when you first arrived?
Amelie - I really, really, enjoyed it! The smells and the foods looked amazing! I loved walking around all the stands and trying samples! When I got to the Coeliac UK stand, I was so excited as the lovely team there had a t-shirt for me to wear and I had a name badge to put on just like my mummy!
Q. How did you help the Coeliac UK team and all the visitors to their stand on the day?
Amelie - I spoke to the children who came to the stand with their families. Mummy helped their parents whilst I helped the children – we were a great team! It was so good to meet new friends that had coeliac disease that were my age.
Q. Did you get to sample any of the gluten free food? What was your favourite?
Amelie - Yes! SO much!! I loved going to the sandwich bus and winning two loaves of gluten free bread on the spinning wheel game! I loved trying the cheesy dough balls and the yellow dahl …it was so delicious! The crumpets were the tastiest crumpets I have ever had!
Q. What was the best thing for you at the show?
Amelie - I loved everything about it but the very best thing was meeting Becky Excell, Cristian Costas and Megan McKenna, and helping people on the Coeliac UK stand. I enjoyed a special day with my mummy, just the two of us, where we got to help people and try lots of tasty gluten free foods together! It was the best day of my life!
Q. Do you have anything you’d like to say to any other children that have been diagnosed with coeliac disease?
Amelie - Try not to worry about, as I have got older I actually love being different to the other children! Sometimes, you get even better foods than the gluten ones…Mummy and I say ‘gluten free score’ when this happens! At school, it can be tricky at times, but I enjoy seeing what different foods I will get from the cafeteria. There is a lot of people to help and support you on your journey, like your parents, your hospital team, your family, Coeliac UK and your best friends. You are never on your own with it!
Thank you Amelie! We can’t wait to welcome you back to another show.
If you have a Young Champion and they would like to share their ‘GLUTEN FREE SCORE’ and experiences then get in touch at youngchampions@coeliac.org.uk (please note all correspondence will be between Coeliac UK and the parent/carer).