Thirty years ago Godfrey Jameson, a gardener from Christchurch, New Zealand was struggling with some hard to remove weeds.

None of his gardening tools worked, so he went into his shed with an idea. He left his shed with the prototype weeder, made from wire, that was light in weight, nice to hold and easy to use. It not only did the job but he soon realised this handy little tool would be a great addition to the gardener’s took kit. The wonder weeder was born. Initially selling in a charity shop, the weeders became popular locally. The design was refined and the red handled adopted. Production increased and soon the weeders were selling all over New Zealand. In 1998 production was moved to Lower Hutt, New Zealand where David, George and Alma Parr took over the business with Godfrey taking a well earned rest.

After exhibiting at the Chelsea Flower show and receiving critical acclaim from Gardening experts, Alma’s cousin Sue and her husband Steve starting producing the weeders under the UK name of Speedweeder™.

Not long after Speedweeder™ had come to the UK, as part as a rebranding and packaging project Gavin joined the team. As part of the aim of reducing plastic waste Speedweeder™ moved from plastic packaging to using recycled cardboard, making Speedweeder™ even more sustainable.

In 2018 Gavin took over the company and Speedweeder™ production moved to the Somerset Levels, where they are made in the same way that Godfrey started thirty years ago.

The business continues to go from strength to strength and you can now purchase Speedweeder™ from many outlets throughout the UK including the National Trust.

As Speedweeder™ celebrated 30 years from it’s New Zealand creation, we marked this event by launching the Speedweeder™ Colour.

Speedweeder™ is made where possible from 100% sustainable components. Each weeder is hand made and packaged at our workshops in Somerset, UK.

Back British Business.