Sydenham apprentice helps to build Adam Frost's gold-medal garden at Chelsea Flower Show

Shane North, of Addington Grove, a member of the Homebase Garden Academy, worked alongside seven-time award winner Adam Frost to help to create his urban community garden.

Mr Frost’s Homebase Urban Retreat Garden, in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support, celebrated the importance of green spaces in our towns and cities.

The garden academy was set up to help Britain’s next generation of horticulturists kick start their career and for Mr North, 20, it seems to have done just that.

The Homebase Urban Retreat Garden

He said: “It was a great opportunity to progress in my career. I was in a dead end job before I joined the academy.

“One of my main tasks [at the flower show] was to build the bug hotel.

“I have never really worked on a site before. I was thinking, ‘What am I going to do - I’m not trained in anything?’ but there was always something that needed to be done.

“I thought I wouldn’t fit in but I’ve really built up my confidence.”

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Mr North followed in the footsteps of his sister, Christine North, 34, who joined the Homebase garden academy in 2013 after 15 years out of work as a full-time mum.

Adam Frost

As well as working with Mr Frost, the academy apprentices have the security of a paid full-time job with Homebase and the opportunity to study for Royal Horticultural Society exams.

Stars including Paul Smith, Samantha Bond, Chris Robshaw and Christopher Biggins did not let the rain dampen their spirits at the garden’s opening.

Mr Frost’s 2015 garden was created using Portland cement concrete, corten steel and cedar with mainly ornamental and wildlife-friendly planting.

The spectacle was inspired by the work of modernist architect Marcel Breuer and the balance of nature and the man-made environment.