I watched the video clip of other festivals who were thinking about accessibility for people with additional needs in the North East, and echoed Debs' feeling of ‘Why not here?’. Subsequently, the passion has continued to grow, and with so much enthusiasm and excitement surrounding the festival, we've seen year-after-year that it’s wholly achievable.

I have two sons with autism, the eldest of whom has extremely challenging behaviour, so I really understand the need to get this festival right for all types of disabilities.

Having been a governor at a special needs school, and a trustee of SNAAP (a local disabled children’s charity) for many years, I gained a broad experience of many types of disability. This gave me the tools to focus on my passion which is to make sports as accessible and inclusive to all. To that end, I manage and run pan disability teams in both tennis and football.

My background is in PR and Marketing, however, my commitment has always been to the issues that surround disability, it’s this passion that I hope to bring to this inspiring project.