Bring It On 2023 – Statement

Bring It On – the Exhibition for Future Engineers in the North East and the Tees Valley has taken place annually each year since 2017. The exhibition was conceived and administered by its four Founders, Thomas Chacko, Bowman Bradley, Carol Harrison and Moira Shaftoe.

In this time Bring It On has developed as a significant brand and has been widely welcomed by both North East and Tees Valley engineering companies and North East and Tees Valley schools.

Since its inception the exhibition has been funded, on an annual basis, by a range of Supporters which have included Charitable Foundations, Local Authorities, Engineering Companies, Professional Engineering Institutions and Rotary Clubs, for which the Founders have been extremely grateful.

Bring It On became a Registered Charity in August 2020.

During 2022 it became apparent that the Founders, as a group, were no longer able to provide sufficient time and effort to administer the Exhibition and the associated Registered Charity, even recognising that the event itself has always been managed by a professional event management company.

In an attempt to overcome this problem, the Trustees developed a Business Plan which would allow the Charity to contract in external resource to fill this gap. For this Business plan to be viable additional funding would be required and there would need to be a funding commitment for at least the medium term, maybe three to five years.

In spite of significant efforts and extensive discussions with prospective funders, it has not, to date, been possible to obtain commitment to that additional funding.

It is therefore with great regret that the Trustees, at their meeting on March 2nd 2023, resolved that Bring It On would not take place in 2023. This decision was made in the knowledge of the timescale required to organise the exhibition and the likelihood of suitable funding being identified in sufficient time.

It was also resolved that the Charity would continue in active existence and additional efforts would be made to secure medium term funding for the Business Plan in the hope that Bring It On can be revived in future years.

The Trustees of Bring It On March 2023