“Kindness is in my family, it’s in my genes and I want to pass it forward to my own children.”

This sentiment might go some way to explain Kelly Connell.’s busy life - a life that is predominately based on helping others.

Kelly, originally from Workington, moved to Egremont seven years ago.

She runs her own successful brand and design business with customers throughout the world and knows first-hand the difficulties women - and mothers especially - can face when trying to grow a business or even make a living.

One of her ambitions was to train other women in brand and design so that she had a team behind her that would grow her own business.

“I want to train women to do design work," she said. "The idea is that I could have a team behind me to grow my own business but they would also be able to do whatever work they can find.”

She decided that a not-for-profit cafe would be a place where people could gather.

The Creative Cup in Cleator Moor has become so successful that it is now much more than Kelly ever imagined or even intended.

The cafe runs a voucher scheme. The purpose is to give anyone who needs it a free meal but “you don’t know how hard it is to give away anything for free.”

Whitehaven News: Kelly Connelly

So, to save embarrassment, vouchers can be bought as gifts for friends and are supplied to people who can give them to those who need a meal.

“That way nobody knows why a customer has a voucher.”

There is information about help agencies at the cafe and Kelly will talk about them to customers.

“It’s a small cafe and quite intimate so you can gauge who is there and know what they might need to know.”

The cafe features a retail board for charities and not-for-profit organisations selling essentials such as baby products and clothes.

With training sessions, help to work, directions to agencies and a place to stay warm there is only one thing that this cafe has in common with any other - and that is a cuppa!