The chairman, Keith Bentley, gave a report on the past year. He said it had been a difficult one with the loss of our party's 2 seats on Chelmsford City Council following the May election and the approval of the new development north of the Burnham Road which lacked adequate infrastructure to support it, in our opinion. Thanks were given to all members and friends who helped during the pre-election period, and special thanks to Scott Wilson who put together our leaflets and the double pagers in the Focus, and also to Kevin Golding who adapted our website so we could keep residents informed of our position on issues and our 4 candidates.

On a positive note, Jackie Birch got within a whisker of taking a seat on the Tory Southside, with Scott also closer than we'd managed in previous years. Although we didn't get any seats this time our share of the vote held up, too.

Keith said he hoped that over the next 2 years the Party would be able to convince residents that we provide the best choice to represent them at County Council and in 4 years we take back our seats in Chelmsford and more.

The election of officers to the executive was as follows:

CHAIRMAN AND LEADER - Keith Bentley

TREASURER - Ian Roberts

SECRETARY - Jackie Birch

NOMINATING OFFICER - Sam Coley

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY - Sheila Miles

59ers MANAGER - Scott Wilson