MEMBERS of North Dorset Branch of the Federation for Small Business (FSB) voted in officials at their annual meeting.

They selected Ed Sadd of Poultons Portables as the chairman and Nigel Jones from the Railway Hotel in Blandford was re-elected as treasurer.

Solicitor Cordelia McFarlane was selected to be branch secretary and Terry Hack of Safeguard Security Consultants was elected to continue as committee representative.

The meeting was also attended by Colin Jamieson, who is the regional organiser for the FSB in Dorset.

Mr Sadd said in his presentation: "We aim to raise the profile of our branch and to improve communications between our organisation and other bodies that work in the interests of the business community.

"We will be aiming to get more email addresses so that we can minimise costs and use this and other technology to capture members' concerns and issues so that we can act on their behalf."

The North Dorset Branch of the FSB has more than 430 members. After the official business of the evening the members enjoyed a presentation by Peter Whittaker of the Dorset Fire and Rescue Service.

He gave some practical advice on how to comply with the new Fire Regulatory Reform Order which came into effect on October 1.