By Dominic Casciani BBC News Online community affairs reporter

What happens when six black young men from south London estates join two of the Army's most prestigious regiments? If there's one thing that Evans, Marvin, Edmund, Melvyn, Elvis and Kola will definitely be learning this week, it's that there are two six o'clocks in the day. And there are stables to be mucked out, boots to be polished. Oh, and large royal parks to run around.

But the six teenagers from south London are the least likely to complain as they take part in an experiment to help young black men from troubled backgrounds steer clear of bad influences through mentoring projects - in this case spending a week at the heart of the illustrious Household Division.

I thought that it would all be shouting and banging on doors - but they even gave us two pillows

Elvis Osemwegie

For one week, they have swapped the housing estates of Peckham and Catford in south London for the barracks of the Life Guards and the Scots Guards, the regiments instantly recognisable from any picture of state occasions.

Out go the baseball hats and trainers. In come the jodhpurs, black boots and, to their surprise this morning, the camera flashes of tourists waiting to see the start of the Changing of the Guard.

The six teenagers are all part of the Boyhood to Manhood Foundation, a charity which works with black teenage boys excluded from school.

The chance to join the regiments came through the London String of Pearls festival which seeks to increase access to the institutions which have helped create modern Britain.

Arrival at barracks

And so, late on Sunday night, the teenagers arrived at their homes for the next week, army barracks in the heart of the capital.

"So you what do you wear on a day off?"

"I just didn't expect it to be like it was," said Elvis Osemwegie, 18. "They were really welcoming.

"I thought that it would all be shouting and banging on doors and orders to get up or be marched around. But they even gave us two pillows."

What they perhaps didn't expect was to handle horses on their first day. Elvis's younger brother Evans, 17, was left with that tricky task as he tried to calm one of the mounts which was none too happy about the photo-call.

Captain Justin Butah of the Life Guards said: "I think their biggest fear was that we were going to shave their hair off.

"Well we're not going to do that, but this is going to be as realistic a week as it possibly can be.

"The chaps with the Life Guards are going to be having their first riding lessons and the chaps with the Scots Guards are taking part in small arms training with a simulator.

"They will be waking up with the soldiers, eating with them, attending training with them and taking part in physical exercise with them."

Backgrounds

From Boyhood to Manhood was established in Peckham to mentor black teenagers at risk of slipping out of school and into a life of low expectations, taking the African proverb "It takes a community to raise a child" as its starting point.

Marvin Osemwegie gets down to the grooming

Many of the teenagers have joined the scheme with low horizons and little self-belief - those most at risk of ending up involved in crime and drugs.

On Monday morning, Edmund Poru, who turned 18 this week, was smiling broadly, hayfork in hand as he cleaned up the stables at Horse Guards' Parade.

Three years ago he was excluded from school for fighting. Today, he is studying again at college and harbours two ambitions: Firstly, to become a pilot - and secondly to help other black teenagers in the same situation.

"I was excluded when I was 15 and I've basically lost two years of education," said Edmund.

"Since then, I have learned a lot, including respect for myself and others.

Edmund Poru: "Achieve your potential"

"Before I was kicked out of school, I had a certain idea of how I was supposed to behave as a young black boy.

"I thought it was about hanging around on streets, smoking, some of the kinds of images on television or in music.

"This programme pulled me back to education and gave me an idea of who I could become.

"The problem is that Peckham is not a bad place. It's just that there are so many kids who fall under a bad influence. My advice to them is finish your schooling, achieve your potential."

Entrance to communities

There's undeniably good publicity for the army in inviting the six young men to join the regiments - not least if it gives them a way into communities where they have long sought to recruit but found it difficult to do so.

"We want to show these young men and the communities they come from the wonderful career opportunities the Army can offer," said Captain Butah.

"But this should not be seen as a recruitment exercise. This week is about what the chaps can do for us, and we can do for them.

"I hope they can go home at the end of the week and tell their friends what they have learned from us. But I also hope we can make them more confident in their own lives."

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