HOMELESS gardeners are set to show their skills at one of the world’s most prestigious horticultural shows.

The team can usually be found plugging away on an allotment in Cowley, but have now been asked to transfer their skills to displays at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Volunteers at the Steppin’ Stone Project said they had never dreamed of being able to work at the show, but it is set to become a reality.

Angela Chohdri, 46, who volunteers at the allotment and will be heading to Chelsea, said: “It’s going to be hard work, but we’re all really looking forward to it.

“I never thought I’d be doing something like this.

“I suffer from depression, so doing the gardening is like therapy and helps me a lot.

“It gives you a real sense of achievement.”

The group works on a site at the Elder Stubbs allotments, near Cricket Road, and is based at a centre for the city’s homeless in Magdalen Road.

Steppin’ Stones has teamed up with the Eden Project, in Cornwall, which was looking for eager gardeners to help at the annual flower show.

Volunteers have spent the last two years designing a garden for the show, which takes place between May 19 and 23 at the Royal Hospital, in Chelsea, and attracts thousands of people every year.

Nigel Northcote, Steppin’ Stones project manager, said: “We started off about 10 years ago with one patch at the allotment.

“Now we have a patch roughly the size of 12 and we grow much of the fresh vegetables and fruit we serve in the centre ourselves.”

For the next three weeks Mr Northcote will take a team of three volunteers to London to prepare for the show.

The group will also man a stall at the show on Friday, May 29.

Mr Northcote added: “This is a really exciting opportunity. It’s something I never dreamed we’d be asked to do.

“I wasn’t sure at first whether it’d be something the guys would be interested in, as they will be working literally from 7am to 7pm, but their excitement has been palpable.

“It gives them a chance to show that just because they’re homeless doesn’t mean they are helpless or hapless.”

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk