Nine-foot Chocolate Helicopter will raise money for Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance

A chocolatier from Lincolnshire has spent two days constructing an egg-stravagant treat to support the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance (LNAA) in the form of a helicopter made with a tooth tingling 120kg of chocolate.

Jan Hansen, owner of Hansen’s Chocolate House in Folkingham, spent the entire weekend hand crafting the helicopter using layers of Belgian chocolate.

The egg-streme Easter treat was constructed using an iron frame in the shape of an egg, with additional parts added to create the helicopter rotors and tail.

Jan, who has been in the chocolate business for over three decades, currently has the finished spectacle on display in the conservatory of his shop so that visitors can see the creation through the window at a safe distance and make donations to help keep the air ambulance flying.

He said: “We’ve used a seven-foot egg frame to form the body of the helicopter. After adding the tail at the back, the finished product is around nine-feet long. We’ve used approximately 120kg of chocolate to build the helicopter.

“It’s been built in the air-conditioned conservatory at the back of the shop so that customers can view the helicopter through the window. While raising money for the air ambulance, we hope that this can help spread a bit of joy after what has been a very challenging year for everyone.”

Jan decided to support LNAA after hearing how the charity has seen its income affected by the pandemic. He added: “We often hear the air ambulance fly overhead as we’re based off the A15. They do such a fantastic job and thought it would be a perfect opportunity for me to use my chocolate-making skills to help them raise some money.”

LNAA had to close its charity shops and cancel fundraising activities during the pandemic and the charity has lost more than £1m in projected income. As income went down, the crew on board the helicopter and Critical Care Cars have continued to respond to incidents and attended 1,167 life-threatening emergencies throughout 2020.

Kelly Geoghegan, Fundraising Events Coordinator at Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance, said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you to Jan for using his tremendous talent to create his choco-copter on behalf of our charity. We’re hoping his amazing efforts will help raise much needed funds for LNAA after a challenging year.

“While we work closely with our fantastic NHS, we don’t receive any funding. We rely entirely on donations from generous members of our communities to keep our helicopter flying and Critical Care Cars on the road.

“We know that Jan’s chocolate helicopter will bring a smile to so many people and is a fantastic way to help raise funds that could potentially save lives.”

To make a donation and help Jan egg-ceed his fundraising target, click here.