Press release -
Virgin Trains helps bring 9-year-old Amelie’s menu to life
9-year-old Amelie Bridge was treated to a very special trip down to London courtesy of Virgin Trains and Thames Rockets. The Birmingham youngster wrote to Sir Richard Branson following a trip with Virgin Trains last year, with suggestions for a new First Class Menu.
The mouth-watering menu, which featured a strawberry milkshake, crab surprise, cheese savouries and a fruit salad to round things off, was brought to life much to the delight of Amelie.
“I’ve been really, really excited about the trip. I haven’t stopped talking about to my friends – all the children at my school know about it,” explained Amelie. “I chose this menu because they’re all of my favourite foods. My mum also loves crab. I really loved the food. I found it all very tasty!”
Amelie, along with Mum, Dad and three friends were guests of Natasha Grice, Virgin Trains General Manager for the Midlands.
“We love getting letters like Amelie’s,” explained Natasha. “We know how important food and drink is to our customers, whether they are travelling in First Class or taking advantage of our shop onboard.
"We also like nothing more than a challenge. So it was great to be able to bring Amelie's meny to life and judging by the reaction we may have to think about picking her brains for when our next menu is launched.
“For those customers not fans of crab, French fries, or cheese savouries, our First Class menu including our ever popular breakfasts, continues to be a big hit along with our improved range of food and drink available from the onboard shop.
A very proud Dad, Richard was full of praise for his daughter’s efforts.
“The menu came about when they went on a day trip to Coventry. Amelie loved having a menu onboard and decided she wanted to make her own and send it into Richard Branson,” he added. “I just found the whole experience very special. When the letter arrived recorded delivery, and addressed to Amelie it made it really fun. We’re so grateful for everything they’ve done for Amelie.”
AMELIE’S MENU
Drinks - Strawberry milkshake, Water, Tea, Orange juice, Hot chocolate
Food - Butter, cheese savouries and biscuits, Crab surprise (crab fish fingers and fries), Fruit salad
ENDS
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- Lifestyle, Fashion, Leisure
Categories
- routes & stations
- trains
- regional news
- fun stuff
About Virgin Trains:
Stagecoach and Virgin are working in partnership to operate the East Coast and West Coast inter-city routes under the Virgin Trains brand. Together, they are on track to revolutionise rail travel across the UK.
The combined network connects some of the nation’s most iconic destinations including Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, York and London.
Virgin Trains is committed to delivering a high speed, high frequency service, offering shorter journey times, more comfortable travel and excellent customer service. Customers consistently rate Virgin Trains as one of the top long-distance rail franchise operators in the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) commissioned by industry watchdog, Transport Focus.
On the East Coast route, £140m is being invested to create a more personalised travel experience. We have already invested £21m to completely revamp our existing fleet and customers can now benefit from 42 additional services (22,000 extra seats) per week between Edinburgh and London. 2018 will see the introduction of completely new Azuma trains being built in the UK by Hitachi.
The West Coast route has a proud record of challenging the status quo - from introducing tilting Pendolino trains, to a pioneering automated delay repay scheme and becoming the first franchised rail operator to offer m-Tickets for all ticket types.
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