Tears from TV Dragons as dad wins £50k deal

A CARDIFF dad won a £50,000 investment deal on Dragons’ Den after leaving his teaching job when his daughter was seriously injured in an accident.

Craig Hill accepted the offer from Peter Jones for a 30% stake in his business Landscapes 4 Learning which manufactures outdoor play facilities for children.

Thousands who tuned in to the show on Sunday night watched as the 39-yearold had Deborah Meaden in tears after he revealed why he decided to set his business up.

Craig, from Whitchurch, told the panel of multi-millionaires that he decided to leave his teaching career after a fall into a fire resulted in his two-year-old daughter Eirian sustaining significant burns to her back and legs in 2012.

Craig said the toddler suffered from a medical condition which caused her to spontaneously fall and lose consciousness while standing.

“She suffered with drop attacks,” Craig said. “She was standing in front of the fire and she fell backwards.

“Her dress caught in the flame and it went up like it was just in paraffin.

“I ran over and I put her out and we got her in the shower. I don’t remember much more than that. I think I just blocked that out.”

The father-of-three was working as a teacher at the time and said he felt dutybound to continue working.

“I sort of struggled on in school thinking it was the right thing to do but for a few years I was just miserable,” he said.

“I felt like I was giving all my attention to other people’s kids and neglecting my own.”

Craig decided ultimately to give up his teaching career and he took on a few carpentry jobs before starting his own business called Landscapes 4 Learning.

The entrepreneur began making an affordable range of outdoor learning equipment aimed at cash-strapped primary schools, nurseries and day care centres, based out of his garage.

“I was probably doing twice the amount of hours that I was as a teacher but it was on my own terms,” Craig said. “I had something to focus on and it was like starting again.”

He said Eirian was now doing very well six years after the accident. “She has regular check ups,” he said. “They are going to have to keep checking her scars because obviously she’s growing. But she is in a good place.”

Craig said in the five months since the Dragons’ Den recording he had been able to move out of the garage at the end of his garden and into a dedicated premises.

“We have come a long way,” he said. “We have moved out of the garage and I have got two full-time carpenters and one part-time.

“It’s all moved forward.”