Peter, who co-founded Bigjigs Toys with wife Liz in 1985, passed earlier this month aged 81
Peter William Berthet Ireland, who co-founded Bigjigs Toys with his wife Liz in 1985, has died aged 81. He passed 4 October, 2026.
Sam Ireland, his son and Operations Director for the family-run business, said: “Dad was one of a kind. Hard-working, kind, thoughtful and generous with his time to all who met him.”
Born in 1945 in Khartoum, Sudan, where his parents were working, Peter was schooled in England and went on to have a varied career before toys found him. He worked as a salesman for Cadbury’s, ran his own convenience stores, and then became a teacher. Each role left its mark: a salesman’s ease with people, a shopkeeper’s feel for what customers want, and a teacher’s belief in how children learn.
“Dad was one of a kind. Hard-working, kind, thoughtful and generous with his time to all who met him”
Bigjigs Toys was born in 1985 from a garden shed in Kent. Peter took to creating wooden toys as a hobby while training as a Craft Design teacher, initially for enthusiastic friends and family. Early puzzles were handmade, cut from floorboards, and painted and packed in that shed. They were later sold at a weekend market in Covent Garden, London, and customer demand pushed the range into magnets, wellie pegs, pencil holders, door plaques and coat hooks, and before long into wooden toys for children of all ages.
Realising he was onto something, one school holiday Peter and Liz – both teachers – made the leap to run the business full time. Peter’s guiding belief was simple: toys should make children happy, and the best ones help them learn at the same time. His years in the classroom gave him a lasting interest in child development, and that thinking shaped Bigjigs from its first floorboard puzzle.
Learning through play remains central to the company’s design work in Folkestone. It is the clearest part of the legacy he leaves to the business and to the many families who have grown up with its toys.
Above all, Peter loved his family. He was always on hand to help, advise, run errands or lend support in any way he could, and his seemingly endless network of friends meant there was always someone he could call to get a job done.
Bigjigs has been family run from day one. Sons Sam and Tom joined the business after finishing their education, and even grandchildren Edith and Arthur have helped design and test the toys. Peter passed his love of sport on to his sons and grandchildren, and he was a constant presence on the sidelines, cheering them on at every match and every game.
Peter is survived by his wife Liz, his sons Sam and Tom, and his grandchildren Edith and Arthur. He is remembered across the industry as kind, thoughtful and generous, a man who would talk to anyone and who never lost sight of why he started: to make children happy.
Funeral arrangements will be announced in due course.
