After being made homeless at the age of 17, the 29-year-old has not only turned his life around - but is now using cycling as a means of reaching out to the community while turning run-down areas into cycling havens.

Denham spent seven years living in a homeless hostel and council accommodation but, thanks to his passion for cycling, is now helping the sport reach an entirely new audience - and ensuring that others have the opportunities that were denied to him.

The Southampton-born cycling enthusiast has succeeded in using cycling as a means for transforming estates riddled with drug-use and gang crime into safe havens for cyclists of all ages on the south coast.

Denham says: “The biggest reward is seeing the projects completed with the kids growing in self-belief and interacting with each other and with adults. Some have gone from what many people would consider as a lost cause to working in bike shops and even cycling at a national level. I feel lucky to do what I do.”