Harrogate Town announces new appointment for its Community Foundation with top experience at Newcastle Utd

Jill Stacey started her career at Newcastle United Foundation as a Community Coach, a position she held whilst completing college and university qualifications in Sports Coaching & Management.

After graduating, Stacey moved into a Development Officer role and never looked back, spending 15 years working in various roles for the club she grew up supporting.

In 2019 Jill made the move to Yorkshire, to head up the Girls Academy programme at York City FC where she spent two years working with the top talent in the region for women and girls football.

“Having worked in Community Foundations for most of my career I am delighted to accept the role as Head of Community at Harrogate Town AFC CIO,” said Stacey.

“Working closely with the club I have aspirations to drive the Foundation forward and build on the brilliant programmes we already delivery, making a positive difference to people’s lives of a number of beneficiaries with the dedicated and hardworking employees who represent Harrogate Town so positively in the community.

“We aspire to be a resource for people in the Harrogate district, providing opportunities for people of all ages to positively engage with our activities which aim to improve health & wellbeing; create diverse opportunities and foster safer, stronger more active communities.”

Jill takes over from Iain Service, who departed earlier this month after five years and who managed the transition to a registered charity for the first time.

CEO of Harrogate Town AFC and a trustee of the Foundation, Sarah Barry said: “The Community Foundation has gone from strength to strength since its launch, benefiting a great number of people across the Harrogate district community through our programmes.

"Everyone at Harrogate Town AFC and our Community Foundation would like to express their sincere gratitude to Iain for his work over the years.

"Jill is an experienced professional with an abundance of energy and ideas, as are the whole foundation team.

"We are excited about the future and what’s to come.”