Ioannis Athanasiou with Abigail Poku

A young people’s charity has been recognised for its work in creating a community garden.

Catch22 in Barking was named London regional winner of the Keep Britain Tidy National Awards 2012 for a project to create a garden on the Gascoigne Estate in Barking.

The garden was part of the Community Space Challenge that helped young people to identify run down and neglected spaces in their community and take action to make them cleaner, greener and available for everyone to enjoy.

Ioannis Athanasiou, the programme’s co-ordinator for Catch22 Barking, said: “The project offered a life experience to young people to make such a valuable contribution to their community.

“They worked hard, together with people of diverse ages and backgrounds, on a demanding project that everyone now can enjoy as a place for all.”

The garden, created last summer with volunteers from Aviva insurance and parents from the Gascoigne Children’s Centre, includes a sensory area, vegetable plots and a barbecue area.

The award will be presented to Catch22 on March 13 at a ceremony at Aston Villa Football Club in Birmingham.