A 33-year-old volunteer who set up the girls' division at Altrincham Football Club and has grown it to almost 600 girls has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to sport in the King's New Year Honours.
Rachel Davies approached the club in 2010 when she discovered - while working for a sports company in Altrincham - that there were no girls' teams at Altrincham FC.
Initially launching a team of under-9s, she coached it through to under-18 level before taking over as coordinator of the whole girls' section six years ago.
Since then, the number of girls playing football at Alty has rocketed to 585 - representing about 45% of the total juniors at the club - and there are an astonishing 39 girls' teams under the age of 18 at the club.
Despite now living in Liverpool, having two young children and working full-time as a retail manager at the Tesco supermarket in Haydock, Rachel continues to travel three or four times a week to Altrincham FC for girls' training and matches.
She told Altrincham Today about the moment she found out she had been awarded a BEM in the New Year Honours list.
"I was astonished - I didn't see it coming at all," she said.
"I was actually on a family holiday when I got the email, but I had to ring the club to check that it wasn't spam."
Rachel was a promising young footballer herself and was offered a place at the Manchester United centre of excellence at the age of 10.
A serious injury ended her competitive playing days at just 16, but she continued contributing to the game she loves by turning her attention to the development of girls’ football at Alty.
"Football has always been a big part of my life and I want to keep inspiring young girls to get involved and play," she said.
She said she was motivated to keep on with her work with the girls' section - which is all voluntary - by a desire to "give something back".
"Whether you're a brand new player or you're on the track to an academy, it's about inclusion," she added. "Every player is welcome, whatever your level."
Rachel said she wanted to thank "all the managers and coaches who have been a part of my journey".
Other local people recognised in the New Year Honours include Philip Rose, from Altrincham, who receives his award for services to Children's Science Education.
Philip, 72, is the founder of SciTech, a summer school which since 1991 has helped around 6,000 children to understand and connect with science and technology.
SciTech gives children the opportunity to learn about science and technology in a fun way from learning about kinetic energy by running on custard, to performing pitstops in Lewis Hamilton’s F1 car to learn about technology and engineering.
Philip, who has dyslexia, said he wanted to help to give children accessible and positive learning experiences.
Professor Bamidele Adebisi, from Timperley, is awarded an MBE for services to Knowledge Transfer.
Professor Adebisi, 50, is a leading researcher in the developing field of smart technology.
His research is mainly in embedding sensing, communication, control and data analytic technologies in critical infrastructure (including water, energy and transport).
As a Board Member of the Royal Academy of Engineering funded Artificial Intelligence for Clean Energy project, he is working with five Nigerian universities to build capacity in research and teaching of clean energy in Africa.
Another Altrincham local to receive an MBE is Joanne Ahmed, Tax Partner at Deloitte, for services to business and trade.
