Felixstowe Chamber of Commerce has elected local solicitor Rachel Cronin as its new chair.

Rachel, who spent six months as vice chair and has been a committee member for the last four years, is head of dispute resolution at East Anglian law firm Margary + Miller and is based at the company’s Felixstowe office.

Rachel said: “I am proud to be part of Felixstowe’s growing business community and am excited about having the opportunity to represent their interests through the chamber at town and county level.

“The chamber offers so much more than just networking opportunities. Although that is undoubtedly an important element of what we do, our key role is to help positively shape the future of the town to attract more people to the area and to local businesses.”

The chamber, which is affiliated to the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, is a non-political association of local businesses that share a common aim of supporting one another and the interests of the community. Its executive committee meets monthly to discuss a wide range of issues relevant to local business including development and promotional opportunities across the peninsula.

Rachel’s predecessor was Andrew Rowdon of Andrew Rowdon Travel Ltd, who was chair for three years.

: : Accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP has added a range of different skills to the team at its Ipswich office.

A new intake of staff has joined the firm, involving work across all areas of the business.

Partner in charge of the BDO Ipswich office Graham Randall said: “Since our merger a year ago, we have gone from strength to strength in East Anglia.

“We continue to expand and this new significant intake of young talent is part of our on-going successful school leaver and graduate recruitment programme, underlining our ambition and growth in the region. We welcome the new starters and wish them success.”

New BDO starters in Ipswich include Michelle Markwell, of Ipswich, who is PA to regional partner Marilyn Martin. Previously she worked for Nuffield.

Chris Barnes is secretary in general practice, and is also from Ipswich. 26 year-old Hannah Axcell is a receptionist and used to work for Carnaby Films.

Senior business adviser Emily Tricker arrives from Scrutton Bland. She lives near Stowmarket and is 26. Jess Mitchell, 21, is a junior book-keeper, living near Manningtree and before starting with BDO was with Crownlea.

Sam Clayden is an accounting services senior aged 26 from Stowmarket and arrived from Ensors. 26-year-old Keagan Rowe from Ipswich is an accounts assistant, working for Scrutton Bland before joining BDO.

Dan Hines is 23 and is a trainee business adviser also from Ipswich and also comes from Scrutton Bland.

Aaron Woodley, 27, joins BDO as business development and marketing manager for the whole of East Anglia. Prior to this Aaron was sales and marketing manager with Select Biosciences. He lives in Ipswich.

Danny Whitehouse lives in Bury St Edmunds and is an accounting services senior. He is 26 and previously worked for Howard & Co.

Graham Randall added: “As the economy continues to improve, so BDO continues to reinforce its position in the region from its offices in Ipswich, Cambridge, Great Yarmouth and Norwich.”

: : Adam Herbert has been appointed branch manager at the East of England Co-op’s new farm-shop style store, Darsham Hamper, near Yoxford.

This will be Adam’s first role as branch manager. He has more than 13 years’ experience with the independent retailer, having begun his career in 2001 as a checkout assistant at the Solar supermarket in Leiston, aged 16.

In 2003, Adam, 28, from Leiston, was promoted to section head and later to grocery manager with shared responsibility for some 90 colleagues. Adam most recently worked as assistant manager at the Wickham Market superstore.

The Darsham Hamper and Café will be a flagship store for the Co-op’s Sourced Locally brand and 80% of products will be supplied direct from farmers, growers and producers in Suffolk, Essex and Norfolk.

Adam said: “I’m really excited to have been appointed branch manager at the Darsham Hamper. I’m passionate about locally sourced products and have always been involved in local products since I was grocery manager at Leiston. Over the years I’ve got to know so many of our local suppliers and been able to visit their premises and learn more about their products. It’s going to be a real privilege to showcase to our customers some of the best food and drink that the region has to offer.”

Adam will be assisted by three team managers, Daniel Newton who lives in Aldeburgh and is also a fireman in the town, Chloe Williams from Saxmundham, who has promoted locally sourced products as in-store demonstrator for the Co-op, and Marie Aldrich, also from Saxmundham, who moves from a supervisor role at the Aldeburgh high street store.

Food operations controller John Clarke said: “Congratulations to Adam. His passion for local products really shines through and I know he will be a great ambassador for our Sourced Locally range. He heads up an enthusiastic and dedicated team and we wish them all every success in their new roles.”

: : Three young women from Suffolk have been presented with scholarship awards from Harper Adams University.

Beth Duchesne, 21, from Bury St Edmunds, Jess Pemberton, 19, from Combs, near Stowmarket and Emma Slater, 21, from Somerleyton, Lowestoft, all received merit awards to assist their studies.

Beth, who previously attended West Suffolk College and King Edwards VI School, is in the final year of her BSc (Hons) Agriculture with Farm Business Management course and a Syngenta scholar. In addition to financial support, Beth’s scholarship included a paid work placement with Syngenta.

“The scholarship has made a huge difference to my time here at Harper Adams,” she said.

“I was part of the crop science trials team, providing support at all areas of the trialling process, including spraying, assessing, drilling and harvesting. Throughout the placement year, I was put through my PA certificates, given the responsibility of sprayer calibrations and my own lab-based trial.”

Jess Pemberton, who previously attended Thurston Community College, is a second year BSc (Hons) Agriculture and Animal Science student at Harper Adams. She was awarded the Dalehead Foods Technical scholarship, which again includes financial support plus a paid work placement, which Jess will undertake during the next academic year.

She said: “It’s a fantastic opportunity to enable me to gain hands-on experience in the pig industry; to work in such a highly-respected company is a great privilege.

“I will be working with a main Waitrose pork-supply company, to help run trials on pig welfare, nutrition, genetics, environmental and general pig production techniques.”

Emma Slater, a final year BSc (Hons) Agriculture with Animal Science student and former pupil of Norwich High School for Girls, received the Harper Adams Club Top-up Scholarship.

She said: “I feel extremely grateful and pleased to have been awarded the scholarship. The opportunities it will allow me to experience are second to none and I feel extremely privileged to be in this position. I am planning on using the money for a trip to America, to explore as many areas of the supply chain I can, from on farm production systems to genetics companies.

“For my placement year I worked for British Quality Pigs, a division of Dalehood Foods where I worked as a member of the technical team. I was able to gain understanding of both the industry and how the company worked.

“As my studies have progressed I have gained increasing interest in animal nutrition. My ambition is to pursue a career within this area of the industry after I graduate this year.”

: : Members of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) elected Kate Morfoot as chair of CIPR East Anglia 2014-15 at the organisation’s annual general meeting, which took place last month at the Trinity Centre in Cambridge.

There are 442 active CIPR members in East Anglia within the region covering, Cambridge, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Bedfordshire.

Kate Morfoot, 39, is managing director of Jungle Public Relations in Norfolk and has been a member of the CIPR since studying for her BA (Hons) Degree in Public Relations and English since 1996. She has been a CIPR regional committee member since 2007.