Bringing Aycliffe Business Park Together | 27
Oktoberfest project leader Darren Race says
the event gets better every year.
● Inset: Coun Neil Foster, cabinet member for
economic regeneration at Durham County
Council, Pamela Petty from Ebac and Darren
Race, Durham Oktoberfest project leader.
DATE SET FOR
OKTOBERFEST 2014
Engineering and manufacturing companies in the
North-East are being urged to book their place at
the region’s biggest and most high profile intertrading and networking event.
Durham Oktoberfest is organised by Durham’s engineering
forums in the North, South and East of the county to encourage
companies across the region to promote themselves and meet
potential buyers, suppliers and customers.
And after the success of last year’s show, which was attended
by almost 120 exhibitors and 1,600 people, details for the 2014
event on Thursday, 23rd October, have now been announced with
the venue once again the Xcel Centre on Aycliffe Business Park.
The line up of guest speakers will be unveiled in the coming
weeks.
Darren Race, project leader for Durham Oktoberfest and chairman
of South Durham Engineering and Manufacturing Forum,
said: “The North East is home to some of the country’s most
successful engineering and manufacturing companies and this
event is all about showcasing them and promoting our world
class capabilities and strengths.
“And as it’s the only event of it’s kind in the region, it also gives
smaller businesses the opportunity to put themselves on the
radars of those bigger companies - their potential customers and gain from them an invaluable insight into what it takes to
elevate their business to the next level.
“Every year Durham Oktoberfest gets bigger and more
successful and we’ve already had a great deal of interest from
companies who want to exhibit. And our message to businesses
is if you want to put yourself into the biggest and most fruitful
shop window, you need to book your place now.
”
Business Durham has been confirmed as the event’s first Gold
sponsor and so far 20 businesses including Hiatco, Bignall
Group, Dyer, Eastern Seals and Microbac Ltd have booked their
exhibition space.
In addition, over 20 regional and national companies such as BAE
Systems, Parker Hannifin and Seaward Electronic, will be involved
in the Meet the Buyer event, which allows participants to meet
potential new suppliers in a series of one to one meetings.
Last year’s show featured some of the region’s most prominent
firms and organisations with Ebac, Heerema Fabrication Group,
Calsonic Kansei and