(Image: Dylan Connell)
Tracy Ostle is talking about the work she is doing to brighten up her local area in York when a young shirtless man cycles past holding a large empty animal cage. “Be careful,” she says. “I will,” he replies. Tracy laughs. “I love it around here! There are so many characters.”
She seems to know everyone in the Groves – her home and the place she voluntarily maintains when not working full-time – while walking around the area, regularly stopping to pick up litter.
Tracy is the chair of the Groves Association which works with the council, local businesses and the Door 84 youth and community centre to improve the community.
People sit next to murals in the Groves, York
(Image: Dylan Connell)
A mural in the Groves, York, as more artwork is planned for the area
(Image: Dylan Connell)
The work has included new murals being created in the Groves to add vibrant colour to the area.
More murals are planned, with new artwork to be painted on the wall next to the Spar in Lowther Street in August using funding from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.
There are also plans for bunting, new lighting and planters in Lowther Street.
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Tracy hopes these efforts will go further than making the Groves look more pleasant: she wants it to help make the area safer.
One of the areas to be developed, on the corner of Lowther Street and St Thomas Place, has become a hotspot for street drinkers, Tracy says. “The idea is to make it a pleasant area.
“The more pleasant you make it, the less likely it is that people will use it for the wrong reasons.”
Tracy Ostle on a corner to be developed in the Groves, York, which she says has become a hotspot for street drinkers
(Image: Dylan Connell)
Tracy Ostle after picking up litter in the Groves, York
(Image: Dylan Connell)
It is an approach that Tracy has rolled out across the Groves – brightening up areas so people can feel pride in their local area and respect it.
“I wouldn’t want it to be the Hebden Bridge of York,” she says, “but I want to light it up. It’s a bit grim.”
Residents welcome efforts to brighten up area
Harriet Walker agrees. The 31-year-old has moved goal posts outside her home in the Groves so she can play football with her daughters.
She hopes other people will learn from Tracy and start engaging more with the area.
Harriet wants to see the area become “a bit greener” and “more clean and tidy”.
She feels this would help make the Groves safer, meaning “kids would want to come out more”.
Harriet Walker with her daughter Tallulah, 10, playing football outside their home in the Groves, York
(Image: Dylan Connell)
Tim Mitchinson with his dog Rags who he says is a 'superstar' in the Groves, York
(Image: Dylan Connell)
Tim Mitchinson, a Groves resident for 50 years, says the mood in the Groves regularly changes. “Some days it’s wonderful – like paradise on earth. And sometimes it can get rufty-tufty.”
The area, he says, has “changed dramatically” over the years – starting when poorer quality properties were cleared to create new council housing in the 1960s.
But he welcomes efforts to maintain the area after feeling it has become somewhat neglected in recent years.
“This lovely lady [Tracy] is doing a remarkable job,” he says. “It’s so transient that people don’t seem to show an interest in the area. But Tracy seems to be investing [in the area] for everyone by the sheer amount of work.
“… I think she should be due for a recognition – for a CBE.”
“Just give me a cup of tea!” Tracy interjects.
Tim feels the work has helped reduce crime in the area. “The more attractive the area, the less incentive there is to mess it up.
“It would be really good if we had somehow got organised groups who are prepared to take over an area around their flats. That would make an impact on the community.”
- Anyone who wants to support the Groves Association is asked to email grovesassociation@gmail.com