A COMMUNITY cafe which brings village residents of all ages together to enjoy coffee, cake and strawberry teas is going from strength to strength in York.

Upper Poppleton's Coffee on the Green has become such a fixture in the village's diary that is has been nominated for the Community Pride Community Project of the Year award.

Put forward by regular customer Sylvia Meyer, the cafe has grown from one afternoon a week to two well established sessions attracting young families, older children and elderly people alike.

Mrs Meyer said: "This facility provides a wonderful meeting point for people of all ages and is always busy, buzzing, and extremely well supported. People look forward to these times in the week when they can meet up with friends as well as meeting new people, exchanging news and having fun."

The cafe began with a Tuesday morning sessions, which is now popular with young families in the village, but last summer the organisers decided to put on a special Friday afternoon session through the strawberry season, and that proved so popular it is still going now.

The cafe is run by Sue Cushing and a team of volunteers. Mrs Meyer added: "It is just lovely to have this opportunity as the entire village, as well as visitors benefit from the amazing baking and dedication of Sue and her team. Sue provides all this food and only takes her costs out of the money raised. The church benefits from this enterprise and it, in turn, uses a proportion of the money to support many charities."

Up against "Coffee on the Green" for the same award is New Earswick Bowl club's projects to help people of all ages and with disabilities to enjoy bowls and Boccia.

The club has a dedicated team of volunteers who run disability bowls sessions, and they have been nominated for the difference they make in disability sports in York.

A regular "bowlsability" sessions is run each Friday afternoon, and through the summer the club is transformed into a disability sports area with table tennis, Boccia and short mat bowls among other sports, when many of its members turn to outdoor bowls or golf.

But it is the team of dedicated volunteers which makes the sessions possible and it is there hard work which has prompted the nomination for Community Project of the Year.

Learning disability service Community Base is one of the regular clients at bowlsability and has made the nomination on behalf of all the groups who attend.

The nomination, from Community Base worker Bernie Oxberry, said: "I have witnessed first hand the amount of time, care and support put in to enable our customers to feel fully included in the club."

Bowls club manager Andy Wilson said: "We couldn't do any of this without the volunteers, and we are always looking to develop."

The Community Pride awards are run by The Press with City of York Council, and sponsored by Beneneden Health. Nominations have now closed, and short listed entrants will be announced soon.