Morecambe accountant appointed Chamber president

Chris Gardner has been announced as the new president of Lancaster & District Chamber of Commerce after Jon Powell completed his two-year term.

Chris is a director at Morecambe-based accountancy firm Waters & Atkinson.

He said: "I consider it to be an honour to be elected president and I promise to work hard to advance the interests of all of our members over the next two years. Fortunately I have a great team around me and look forward to working with the Chamber’s staff and board.

"I am very optimistic about the future of the district. It is a great place to work rest and play and the Eden Project is the most exciting thing to happen to the district in my lifetime."

Tarnia Elsworth, director and financial advisor at TP Financial Solutions based in Heysham, has been appointed vice president.

She said: "I am proud to be a member of our business community, and I take the role of representing that community seriously. During my term as vice president, I want to ensure that we are representing and lobbying for and on behalf of as many of our businesses as possible.

"A recent EDI study commissioned through Lancaster University will help myself, the team, and the rest of the board identify which businesses/business owners aren’t working with our Chamber, and will help us converse with those businesses to find out how we can engage and represent them too."

Vicky Lofthouse, Chamber CEO, added: "Our thanks go to Jon Powell for his tireless commitment and everything he has done for the Chamber over the past two years and we look forward to continuing to work with him in his new role as immediate past president."