TWO homeless young people from Bradford have helped to create an award-winning garden stand at The RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Chilstone Garden Ornaments invited Antonio and Danny to the flower show to work on their garden and experience the show as part of their partnership with the youth homelessness charity, Centrepoint.

During their time helping to create the Chilstone garden stand which was awarded four gold stars at the event, Antonio and Danny were also introduced to some of the show's famous designers and met Army personnel during an exclusive visit to the show's memorial garden honouring D-Day heroes.

“The show was the best thing that I’ve ever been to, it was a once in a lifetime experience and it was brilliant,” said Antonio.

“I’m proud to have worked on an award winning garden. At least I can now say that I’ve helped to accomplish that.

“Seeing the D-Day garden was wow… it was a pleasure to be honest and an honour."

Antonio also talks about meeting two soldiers there. "That was a brilliant experience because I want to go in to the Mechanical Engineers and that’s what they were in. So it was perfect timing to meet them and get some career advice."

He and Danny were also presented with a lavender plant from Chilstone.

Danny, who has now moved on from Centrepoint and is living independently, said: “When I was living at Centrepoint I planted loads of potatoes, different flowers and vegetables, but going to the flower show was a whole new experience, especially because I’ve never been to London or been on the Underground before, it was very fast paced.

“It has made me much more interested in a career in gardening and landscaping and hearing that the garden received four gold stars is just brilliant.

“It makes me proud to be a part of that and to have worked on it with Chilstone.”

Siobhan Dowling, who works at Centrepoint Bradford and helps the young people there to tend and manage the service's gardens, accompanied Danny and Antonio to the show.

She said, “This type of experience is invaluable for these young people, helping to increase their confidence and ambition, learning new skills and showing them what they can achieve.

“At Centrepoint our work is more about than just providing a safe home, we help young people to turn their lives around by gaining these types of essential life skills and to move in to education or employment.

“The partnership with Chilstone has played a huge role in helping towards achieving that.

“To say thank you to Chilstone we wanted to share some gifts from our home town and we gave them some soap made in Bradford, biscuits and even a Yorkshire tea towel.”

Steve Clark, Managing Director of Chilstone, said: “If Antoni and Danny apply themselves as professionally as they did at Chelsea Flower Show they will enjoy happy and successful lives.

“It was a pleasure having them as part of the team. They should be proud of the role they played in this project and they have inspired me to mentor other young people.

“They were a credit to Centrepoint but more importantly to themselves.”