Lorraine Fullerton, 30, is the regional recruitment manager for Jockey Club Catering, and is responsible for the racecourses at Aintree, Haydock and Carlisle. She lives in Knowsley Village.

6am: Get up, grab some breakfast and leave for Aintree Racecourse. It’s an early start, but for the six weeks leading up to the Grand National I need to make use of as much of the day as possible.

7am: Arrive at Aintree and start by checking my messages, emails and the recruitment applications from our dedicated recruitment website.

7.45am: I attend a Grand National planning meeting with the management team. The Jockey Club also runs the Cheltenham Festival, as well as four of the five Classics. The Grand National weekend is obviously hugely important for the North West courses.

9.30am: I also head up the recruitment for the catering at two other courses and I’m off to one of them – Haydock Park – for a meeting with the unit manager about our next race day on April 24.

11.15am: While I’m there, I also meet with Haydock Park’s recruitment manager to agree a recruitment and training plan for the next three months.

12pm: Leave Haydock and go back to Aintree for the afternoon session of interviews for the Grand National meeting.

2pm: Leave the team to continue with interviews, while I go back to my office to update the recruitment system and vacancies.

2.30pm: Have a sandwich, bottle of wheatgrass juice and 10 minutes’ break.

2.45pm: I spend 30 minutes with our financial accountant to make sure that our payroll figures are in line with budget expectations and costs are being kept under control.

3.15pm: Call our recruitment team at the Adelphi Hotel, where we are holding a recruitment day to ensure everything is going to plan.

We get all of our temporary staff from the local area, and so events like this are important for us to get the right people.

3.30pm: Hold a conference call with our recruitment teams around the North West to ensure that additional resources are available to support the Grand National.

4pm: Meet with the head chef to ensure all chefs working at the Grand National have confirmed their availability and that he is updated on support from our other locations.

4.30pm: Call our labour operations manager to update him on our recruitment statistics and weekly progress.

5pm: Review the plans for our major training day ahead of the Grand National. It is the first time we have done this and the company is looking at how it goes to see whether it will repeat it in the build-up to some of its other big events, like Epsom Derby and the Newmarket July Festival.

There’s pressure on getting it right – we have 1,000 people coming in for six hours – but the outcomes are important as well. For us, it is about taking the extra steps to enhance the customer experience, as well as build team work among the staff.

6pm: Speak with our lead recruiter at the Adelphi Hotel to receive an update on progress – our target was 100 successful candidates. However, more than 180 applications were successful.

6.30pm: Catch up on all my emails and messages from the day.

7pm: Getting ready for the Grand National is great fun, but the 12-hour days can be tiring. So, once I’m home and cooked tea, I go to bed.