NEW Grants Officer Rachael Facer says she’s excited at the prospect of getting to know more about the voluntary sector in Dorset.

Rachael has several years of experience working alongside voluntary groups involved in youth work as a contracts monitoring officer at Dorset Council and was also involved in working with young people for Poole Council.

“I was overseeing the Dorset Youth Fund grants at Dorset Council and I was involved in some other  grants, supporting the contract officers,” she said. “I loved seeing how much difference it makes to people and the passion of the people working in the groups.

“I’m looking forward to going out on some visits to see where and how our grants make an impact. I didn’t get as much chance before so it’ll be nice. There are so many more organisations that I haven’t seen so I’m looking forward to finding out more about them.”

I’m looking forward to going out on some visits to see where and how our grants make an impact

Dorset born Rachael, who lives near Wimborne, has also worked as a paralegal dealing with family law and most recently been supporting her husband Darren with their property services business.

“When I saw this job advertised I thought how much I really enjoyed working on the youth fund so this has worked out well,” she said. “I’ll be supporting Ellie Maguire the Grants Manager and so far I’ve been doing lots of reading, assessing grant applications and getting out to meet a few people. I’m enjoying it.”

Away from work she is kept busy with taking her 15-year-old son to play a variety of sports and continues to help the family business. She says her escape is the gym and playing netball, a sport she enjoyed at when she was young.

Pictured: New Grants Officer Rachael Facer