WHEN a charity urgently needed help with its garden competition entry, a furniture maker from Staple, near Sandwich, came up with a design that took last week's Chelsea Flower Show by storm .

Barry Feldman, who runs Woodworks Design, stepped in at the last minute to help the Shaw Trust with their entry. He said: "I'd been working there for about a two months teaching woodwork to people with disabilities. Ten days before the show I was asked to design a bench for the garden because the guy who was supposed to be doing it had dropped out."

Mr Feldman had to design the bench on the day he bought the wood, then Shaw Trust members Chris Glover and Andy Kirk helped make it. The Squiggle Bench is made from recycled railway sleepers and became a focal point in the trust's show entry Space the Water.

The garden won the gold award for the best city garden and the BBC RHS People's Award, voted for by the public. The garden is now going to a children's hospice in London and Mr Feldman has been asked to build another bench to go with it. Mr Feldman has worked as a furniture designer and maker for 25 years since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 1977. He is now looking forward to displaying his furniture at the Metropole Gallery in Folkestone in the summer. Examples can be seen online at www.woodworksdesign.co.uk