His new venture is designed to encourage a love of nature and give youngsters the
practical know-how to get digging and planting for themselves.
"Young children don't always have the opportunity to learn about growing flowers
and vegetables from their parents and grandparents," said Steve, whose love of
gardening was fostered by his own grandfather.
Steve's enthusiasm for amateur dramatics helped him to create the friendly 'Mr
Rotavator' persona, transforming himself by greying his hair and donning colourful
patchwork dungarees. His specially cultivated personality is backed by a programme of
workpacks and workshops designed to suit four and twelve year olds.
Mr Rotavator goes out into schools, tailoring his approach depending on whether the
children's background is rural or urban and his work is closely related to the National
Curriculum key stages 1 and 2.
"The aim is to ensure we match the experiences and environment of the
pupils," he said.
To help get the business off the ground, Steve, and his wife Anne, studied marketing
and Anne has achieved the National Vocational Qualification [NVQ] at level three in
business planning.
In addition, with the help of Enterprise Link adviser Dawn Home, he was able to obtain
some start up funding from the Single Regeneration Budget [SRB].
Dawn is confident that the seeds for the success of the business are already sown.
"New ideas are often difficult to get off the ground and 1 am delighted that we
were able to assist," she said.
For the future, Mr Rotavator appears well on the way to becoming a leading brand with
exposure secured in the media and sponsorship from specialist gardening products
manufacturers.
And, he has launched a national gardening club for children which has already attracted
150 members.
"Business is flourishing. We are getting enquiries from schools all over England
and are involved in a number of exciting new projects, including a series of three school
programmes for Channel Four.
"After all the spadework, we can now look forward to a rosy future," added
Steve.
