Street Fair traders

The former Groby woman who

spotted a gap in the chocolate market

For one former Groby woman the opportunity to participate in the Street Fair was of particular importance. You may have seen Louise Lester's stall selling chocolate products outside the church and if you stopped to talk she may have told you about the day she was on the other side of the wall as she walked up the aisle to take her marriage vows. “I loved coming back,” said Louise. “I saw lots of people who I knew from school and around Groby as I grew up, and it was also very special to be back in Groby on my 22nd wedding anniversary.”

Like most other Groby youngsters her school life started at Elizabeth Woodville Primary, where she remembers planting a tree in the grounds for the Queens Silver Jubilee. Then it was on to Brookvale and the Community College followed by nurse training at Charles Frear's School of Nursing. She left Groby in 1991 when she married and currently has a very demanding job as a specialist school nurse working with children in the city who have emotional, behavioural and mental health problems.

For many people eating chocolate is a stress buster, but Louise goes one step further and creates her own chocolate delights. “I've always loved chocolate and cooking,” she explained, “so I combined the two after having a go at making my own chocolate decorations for a cake I was making. I'd found the prices being charged were extortionate and discovered there was a gap for high quality hand crafted chocolate at reasonable prices. I did my research and enjoyed finding a supplier who provides me with really good Belgian chocolate and I was taught how to temper the different sorts. It's far more complex than I thought.” Tempering controls the crystallisation of the cocoa butter so that only consistently small crystals are produced, resulting in much better-quality chocolate.

She has about 20-25 different moulds but adds more constantly, trying to find moulds to meet individual requests and have seasonal as well as all year round sellers. So currently it's the Christmas moulds that are getting the most use.

Louise (née Louise Bowater) sells at craft fairs, street fairs,food and fresh produce fairs as well as by word of mouth, and a riding school shop. She's also done a couple of weddings making favours for the bride and groom and has a page on facebook( Bemysweetie).

Her children are the chief tasters so if you are thinking of volunteering to be a taster please go to the back of the queue. “I do on average 10 - 15 fairs a year with peak times being spring and Christmas,” added Louise. “I have to draft in my husband and mum to help on the stalls. My profit margin is small but I am very lucky to be doing two things I love – I love being a nurse and I love chocolate!”

Update 2021 - The demands of nursing are such that Louise no longer sells her chocolate delight.