Meet the people brightening up their community in The Groves

So says Lisa Kerry of the Chocolate and Co café in Lowther Street. She is the café’s supervisor and started working there after leaving rehab. Lisa has been sober for three years.

The 39-year-old is one of the people at the heart of the community in the Groves, working to make the area a better place.

“Anyone that’s coming in struggling, I can help them,” she says.

Lisa Kerry, supervisor of the Chocolate and Co, and Mariah Barry, project lead, outside the café in Lowther Street (Image: Dylan Connell) People struggling with addiction or who have a criminal record can work at the café for a 120-hour period. During this time, they are given barista and food hygiene training.

“You get the support from staff that have been through it,” the mother, originally from Doncaster, says, later adding: “This is what it’s all about… I could have died, that’s how bad [her addiction] was.

 “To become sober yourself and then help someone, that’s what it’s all about.

“I’ve been given a second chance and now I can help other people.”

Outside Chocolate and Co in Lowther Street (Image: Dylan Connell) The café runs an outreach session on a Tuesday where people who are struggling can seek advice. The same day, it hosts a community badminton session at the Railway Institute in Queen Street.

• Read more: 'It saved my life' - verdict on Chocolate & Co cafe, York

It also has a pay it forward scheme where customers can cover the cost for those who need help.

“It’s a community café,” Lisa says, adding that some people “would be lost” without it.

'People have been saying it looks like Camden'

This community spirit continues outside the café, where flowers have been planted in Lowther Street to brighten up the area.

“People have been saying it looks like Camden,” says Tracy Ostle, a committee member of the Groves Association, working to improve the area. “I just want to make people smile, have a laugh with them and get people on board.”

Tracy Ostle and Denise Craghill (Image: Dylan Connell) She helps look after the area in any way she can – fixing gates, planting flowers, even clearing gutters – when not working full time for the Food Standards Agency.

“I’m going around washing all the gas boxes. It makes a big difference when you see it looking clean.”

“It’s a good thing that Tracey has boundless energy,” says fellow Groves Association member Denise Craghill.

An art wall off Lowther Street (Image: Dylan Connell) Denise also works with a repair café in St Thomas’s Church Hall, in Lowther Street. This, she says, is a place where people can be with others and mend things which helps boost their confidence.

The pair have been involved in a project, led by a resident called Ian, to improve the Groves and its green spaces.

Plants have been planted around gardens in The Groves by the volunteers (Image: Dylan Connell) With the help of sponsors – Caddick Construction, City of York Council, Atlas Green and Loverill – new plants have been planted around the area and flower beds have also been installed.

Art walls of graffiti also bring vibrant colour to the area.

An art wall in March Street (Image: Dylan Connell) “It constantly changes, you never know what you’re going to get. I love it,” Tracy says of one art wall off Lowther Street.

Aside from making the area look better, the community effort has had a wider impact.

Crime rates are “up and down” in the Groves, Denise admits but says: “I think this can only help improve the area.

Flower beds in Townend Street (Image: Dylan Connell) “It does help in the long run. The more activity you have going on, the less crime.

“There’s still going to be something happening because people are struggling with things generally with having less money.”

• The Groves Association is holding its annual general meeting at Theatre@41, in Monkgate, on Tuesday, November 26, from 6.30pm. All residents are welcome.