A Leicester-based children’s book publisher, who once appeared on Dragons' Den, met his childhood hero David Beckham at The Chelsea Flower Show.
Tom Willday, 37, showed the football ace his plantable children’s books, after which the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star shared a post about the books on his Instagram stories.
The post then went viral and helped Tom’s business really take off.
Tom, creates unique plantable children’s books through his family printing business, so that children get to meet their heroes. But when he met his very own hero at the show, Tom couldn’t believe it.
And after the football star shared a video of him and Tom with his 88 million Instagram followers, demand for books has skyrocketed. Tom, who owns the business called Willsow, appeared on Dragons' Den in 2022 when Sara Davies became his business partner. He said:
“Meeting David Beckham was like a dream come true, he is such a lovely man and he absolutely loved the books and shared a story on his Instagram about us, I couldn’t believe it.”
But it didn't stop there with other stars getting on the bandwagon, including Ferne McCann from TOWIE who also posted a video about the Willsow books. Tom continued:
“We met the King last year, and as David Beckham is part of the King's Trust, which is trying to get children gardening, I thought he would be the perfect person to introduce these books to."
“So when he went on a walk around, I just approached him and said ‘hi David, do you mind if I show you my books?’
“When he took a closer look, he said ‘these are excellent, really incredible’, and he asked for a book to take away. “Of course I gave him one, and I thought, nothing of it."
“The next day a photo of my book was shared to his Instagram story to his 88 million followers! Then other stars started sharing it too.”
Since Becks shared the post, Willsow’s business has been catapulted, with enquiries coming in thick and fast for the books which are all about superhero vegetables and herbs - Carrot, Lettuce, Dill, Parsley and co.
Tom, who has a 16-month-old girl called Olive, said:
“Once you read the book, you plant it in the ground and it grows the actual vegetable. It all started because I wanted to educate children about nature's wonders. Some kids struggle to understand where vegetables come from - many think they come from Tesco. I wanted to show them that you can grow them yourself."
“You don’t have to plant the whole book, just tear the back page off and keep reading the story while it's growing. We make all these books in the UK, including the seed paper.
“We also have the Royal Horticultural Society Christmas crackers and calendars that grow a different flower every month. We also have a licence with Shaun the Sheep that grows hundreds of wildflowers.”
The business hopes to expand internationally next year, and the team already has a distributor in the US lined up. They are also trying to launch the books in Japan.
Tom said:
“Retail is difficult, and print faces a tough challenge. We are just a small family run business trying to grow and this has really helped put us on the map.”
Willday, the company which prints Tom’s books started with Tom’s great-grandad Alfred, who passed it down to his grandad Raymond and then his dad. Tom now uses that company to print his unique creations under the brand name Willsow. Tom said:
“We are now the UK’s leading manufacturer in printing seed paper. I have put my heart and soul into it, and hopefully it will grow for the next generation for my daughter and her kids, and so on.”
And getting support from David Beckham has certainly been a major boost.
Tom said “It is so amazing to think that David Beckham posted about my books, it's just incredible that he's willing to support such a small brand. He is just the kindest and nicest bloke. He didn’t mind posing for photos at all."
“Meeting your hero can be daunting, but I realised it doesn't matter who you are, everyone's the same.”
