Fund Team

Emma joined the Fund in October 2015 as Fund Manager, utilising her experience in the voluntary and public sector.

Emma started her career in local government with Newcastle City Council’s Leisure Services gaining experience in a number of roles. This culminated in a role as a Senior Development Officer managing the delivery of citywide projects with local, regional and national outputs.

This was followed by two years spent with a national charity in a regional community fundraising role covering the North of England and Scotland.

Emma is a qualified APM Project Manager and also holds an MA Sport & Leisure Management.

Emma enjoys time with her children; taking advantage of living in the Lake District and the amazing walks available.

Kimberley is one of the most longstanding members of the Fund team and has been with the Fund since it was created in April 2010.

With her previous experience in grants and monitoring for West Lakes Renaissance, the forerunner to Britain’s Energy Coast, she brings significant skills and knowledge to her role as Grants Officer for the Copeland Community Fund; appraising small grant applications and monitoring the reporting of these grants.

Kimberley has a Degree in Business Management from the University of Cumbria.

Kimberley is local to Whitehaven and is married with a young family.

Hayley joined our team in October 2018 as a Grants Officer, utilising her previous experience from both public and third sector roles.

Hayley spent a number of years working for Soundwave, a local music charity and has also worked within the Arts, Sports and Leisure team at Allerdale Borough Council and on Arts Council England’s Creative Partnerships Programme.

Hayley has significant experience of community projects; awarding, monitoring and managing grants and brings a broad range of skills, knowledge and understanding to the role.

Maya joined Copeland Borough Council in September 2018 as a Community Support Apprentice. Maya completed her Level 3 Business Administration NVQ with Lakes College West Cumbria in September 2019, and now works full time as a Grants Officer Trainee with the Fund.

Maya came to the Fund straight from St Benedict’s School, Whitehaven with 9 GCSE’s, including high grades in Maths, English and Science. Since December 2018 when Maya started to work full time for Copeland Community Fund, she has supported the Grants Officers in appraising and monitoring small grants. She has also taken on other responsibilities in the office such as using finance systems and updating the bespoke grants management database, attending external meetings and meeting various community groups the Fund supports.

Alyson joined the team in June 2019 as a Grants Officer covering maternity leave, she brings 7 years of experience working in the voluntary sector within the local community. Previous to this, a history of 20+ years working in finance in the private sector gave Alyson the skills, experience and understanding of what’s required to carry out effective processing of applications, monitoring and administration of grants.

Alyson lives in Whitehaven, and as a mam of two teenagers spends most of her spare time ferrying them to sporting events, including rugby, football, karate and anything else in between.

Sally joined the Team in January 2020 as a Community Development Officer bringing previous experience of development work and project management from across all sectors.

Sally moved to Cumbria in the 1990’s while working as a national account manager for a health & safety company. After having two children Sally moved into a development role with Cumbria County Council where she worked with local communities for twelve years. Then after having her ‘gap year’ at 50 took up a position within the voluntary sector as a business development Manager before joining the Copeland Community Fund team.

Sally has been an active volunteer in her community, working with a number of community organisations since moving to Cumbria and is currently an Rotarian for her local town and also enjoys walking & cycling in her free time trying taking advantage of the coast & the fells as much as possible.