Earlier this year, I was very lucky to be nominated as a representative of the young people in West Sussex for a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace . My name was put forward because of my involvement with Wellspring. It was wonderful in June to actually receive a crisp card invitation from the Lord Chancellor through the post. Another invitation was sent to my helper Sheryl who comes from New Zealand .

It seemed I had been waiting for the day of the Garden Party for such a long time so when I put my clothes ready the night before, it was hard to believe I was really going. We set off the next morning, excited about our big day in London . As we approached Buckingham Palace , Sheryl and I got both nervous and excited as we saw more and more people wearing hats and smart clothes. We parked in a special area in the Mall where I got ready. Once we had smartened up, we felt more like everyone else around us.

While we were having lunch, an American man stopped to ask what the event was at Buckingham Palace . My father gave him a detailed description of a garden party. He was intrigued and asked lots of questions! It was nice to have someone else showing an interest in what we were doing, and it helped add to the atmosphere of the day.

We walked from the van up to the Palace where we were filmed and photographed by my father, our pressman! There was a long queue along the Palace railings but we were able to join in the middle, no one seemed to mind. We were swept along quickly so we didn't have much time to absorb the fact that we were actually going into Buckingham Palace and not just looking through the railings! It was a little bit scary leaving my father at the gate as, we then were on our own with on one telling us what to do. As we walked across the forecourt I turned around to look at the Palace. I couldn't believe I was actually inside the place I had seen so many times on the television.

We went through the gates at the side of the Palace, into the garden. As we went through one of my friends from College got out of a taxi, so we all went in together. We decided to sit down under some trees first but then thought we would go and get some tea. The tent was really huge, with long queues of people waiting to collect food. At this point we all lost each other and I had to chase Sheryl about 100yards through tables and legs before I managed to intercept her coming back towards me. We were very relieved to see each other again and laughed at how easy it was to get lost!

We ate some of our tea - which didn't live up to my expectations. The food wasn't very exciting. I noticed people were forming a crowd - going towards the palace steps, so we went to join them. We waited there for a while before the National Anthem was played, and I caught a glimpse of the Queen's lime green hat. For about another half an hour we waited in the line and palace officials in morning suits came to speak to people, asking if they wanted to speak to the Queen. Eventually we saw the Queen coming down the line, which was exciting as I really wanted to see her and waiting around in the sun was quite hot.

Some people near us were moved forwards to meet the Queen and when she came to talk to them, we watched them having their conversation from very close. After they had finished, the Queen moved on and was followed by her Lady in Waiting and other members of the Palace staff.

The onlookers dispersed and we went to sit by the lake with an ice cream, but were soon aware that Gareth Gates was very near us! After a moment of disbelief, and a bit of persuasion from Sheryl, I moved so I could get a better look at him, and Sheryl and I decided to go and meet him, like many other people! There was a long queue waiting to meet him but Gareth turned around to talk to us. We were really pleased to have a really long chat with him and his father and I couldn't believe that he was a normal person!

After our chat we went back to our ice creams where we met a really nice man who we discovered was the son of a friend in our village! We wanted to go and see more of the gardens, but as we got nearer to the paths we found that crowds were gathering and clapping. I could not see anything from my level, but we guessed that that the Royals were leaving.

On our way out we met a lady who had a son who had Cerebral Palsy. He had a communication board on his chair, and we discovered he was doing a degree in Politics. This was a real inspiration for me and made me realise anything I wanted to achieve was possible.

As we were leaving the Palace a friendly policeman told us to wait a few minutes, as the Queen was about to leave in her car. We saw her drive out through the gates and waved her off before leaving ourselves. We met up with my father again at the Palace railings and we told him all about our amazing afternoon as we went back to the van.

When I got home it was hard to believe I had spent the afternoon at Buckingham Palace . It felt as if I had been in a fairytale!

Lizzie Baily lizzie@wellspringwestsussex.org.uk