Name: Diana Moore
Job: Regional development manager for the Development Trusts Association
Salary: about £32,000
Twelve months ago Diana Moore was head of Ealing Council for Voluntary Services, supporting volunteers and community projects in west London. Today she travels across the south-west helping people help themselves.
For the last year, Moore, 32, has been the south-west regional development manager for a regeneration network. She frequently gives support to not-for-profit businesses and offers business advice to local food production co-ops, grants information for a community group setting up a skateboard park and networking opportunities for social enterprises that are developing IT skills for local people affected by rural isolation.
"It is a real privilege to go round to different communities and help them achieve their goals," says Moore. "Community enterprises in the south-west are unlike those in London. They find it less easy to access grants and cannot make a similar case for deprivation. However, there is a lot more community participation on comparatively low levels of funding."
The rewards of her new role more than make up for the pay cut she took when she left London. "I get a real excitement from my job," she says. "The people are enormously constructive."
She was fortunate that her husband was keen to move. The couple have bought a house near Exeter. "There is a lot to be done," says Moore. "I envisage staying here for a long while."
