gorgeous, ethical chocolates …gorgeous, ethical Hebden Bridge?

• 29th Sep ’07 at 21:55 BST
• By Niladri
• 0 comments

Hebden Bridge is certainly a gorgeous place (in that slightly rugged former mill town way) but is it the ethical centre of the known universe?

Apparently that’s the question on everyone’s lips. It’s become topical through the fantastic work of the Hebden Bridge Bag Ladies to make the town plastic bag free, but there are lots of other organisations and individuals doing important and, in some cases, groundbreaking work.

It’s obviously causing a stir as BBC TV are devoting some of tomorrow’s Politics Show (in the ‘regional’ bit of the programme) to exploring whether Hebden Bridge really is such and ethical town and, if it is, what could make other places more like it?

Some of the show will be presented live from Hebden Bridge on Sunday, but various clips of ethical businesses and organisations have already been filmed. As part of this they sent a team over to us at chocolala.

They were great, and the interviewer, Len, asked me all the right question… the questions that I had the perfect answers for. But somehow it didn’t seem to work out like that. The first thing was that Len suggested filming me making chocolates whilst I answered a question or two. What?!!! Make chocolates and talk coherently? Do two things? At the same time?! The weird thing was that it was another man who was asking me to do this.

Well it went downhill from there onwards. We had some really good and engaging conversation… but as soon as the camera was running I have no idea of what came out of my mouth. I’m pretty sure it was largely a garbled stream of inconsequential garbage that was neither interesting nor relevant.

Maybe a skilful editor will find a useful few seconds, but I imagine most of it will be on the digital equivalent of the cutting room floor. There was one bit that felt rather nice, and that was when I turned out the chocolates I made for them (pictured above).

And the moral of this? Hmm… perhaps it’s to focus on making gorgeous, ethical chocolates rather than on making television?

If you’re interested in the television the Politics Show is on tomorrow, Sunday 30th September, BBC1, 1.00pm (with the Hebden Bridge bit on at about 1.30)

If you're more interested in our chocolates you can go to our online shop!

… fortunately I’ll probably be tidying away chairs after Quaker meeting whilst the programme’s being broadcast so I won’t have to suffer the possible indignity of watching it.