A Leicestershire boy’s Christmas will continue long into the New Year thanks to gardening lifestyle brand Briers...

Ten-year-old Aidan Parmar had entered a glove design competition during the summer of 2016. Sadly, the organisers were unable to fulfil the prize, leaving one very sad and disappointed boy. Hearing of Aidan’s plight via a heartfelt plea by Aidan’s father on LinkedIn, Briers stepped up to help this talented youngster to realise his design dreams.

In late December Aidan, along with his extended family, were invited to join the Briers team at its headquarters in Wincanton. The adventure started with an overnight stay in Bath before arriving onsite the next day to a hero’s welcome – which included a personalised parking space, featuring characters from his favourite movies and cartoons and a goodie bag of pens, crayons, and pencils. There was also and a glove template to begin working on.

Aidan was joined by Briers’ in-house designer, Lewis Simper, who helped to finesse the overall design, also working with Aidan to create some collaborative ideas. Inspired by nature and his surroundings, Aidan’s final design will be featured on a special range of children’s gloves that will help to raise funds for children’s hospice garden charity Greenfingers.

Lewis said he had no trouble getting his young protégé started. “Aidan is a surprisingly talented young designer - he quickly sketched out a fantastic gnome scene in double quick time!,” he said. “The whole Briers team could not have been more impressed by his creative skills.”

Jackie Eades, founder and MD at Briers, added: “I am so pleased that we have been able to help Aidan see his design become a reality despite his earlier disappointment. Supporting young designers is something we feel passionately about, and I have no doubt Aidan could have a bright future ahead of him – we’ll certainly be keeping an eye on him! His passion for design and endless enthusiasm has been an absolute joy to witness, and I am over the moon to say that his gloves will be on the retailers’ shelves as early as April 2017.”

Nilesh Parmar, Aidan’s father, added: “At first I was a bit worried we would not find a solution to help my son after his prize did not come through. So when I saw Aidan sit down with the team from Briers, I felt proud but also relieved that we could finally come to a happy conclusion!”

Pictured: Aidan with the Briers team, showing his designs.