YOUNG offenders are transforming a rooftop garden into an "oasis" for autistic people.

The 16 to 25-year-olds are working for two weeks at the St Marks Day Service in Millais Road, Bush Hill Park, which provides day care for people with autism or learning difficulties.

The team, which inlcudes youngsters in care, longterm unemployed and ex-offenders, have created a new rooftop garden with a birdtable and bench.

These were bought with £450 the hard-working youngsters had raised through cake sales, car washing and bag packing.

The team also created a sensory garden with herbs, hanging baskets of fuschias and brightly coloured plants such as marigolds. The garden has now been entered into the borough-wide garden contest Enfield in Bloom.

The youngsters are currently on a 12-week Prince's Trust team-building programme at the college of Haringey, Enfield and North East London.

Team leader Nickul Hathi said: “The whole idea is to motivate the youngsters and raise their self-esteem. Some of them have been young offenders, suffering from depression. But they are all really excited to see their progress. They feel a great sense of achievement. They chose the project because they wanted to create something that people can use afterwards.”

Day centre manager Martha Milopoulos said: “It was just a plain old roof garden that they have transformed into a little oasis. It's fantastic.

"We couldn’t believe they raised all that money. The kids are all excellent. They are all so polite, and punctual, they really are a credit to the scheme.”

For more information on the scheme contact Nickul on nhathi@enfield.ac.uk