IAN Bailey, who recently stepped down after eight years as the chairman of Okehampton Chamber of Trade, says he is looking forward to a prominent new role within the town. Mr Bailey stepped down as chairman last month to concentrate on taking over the role of president of Okehampton Rotary Club from the end of June. He went into hospital recently for a heart bypass operation and is now recovering back at home, but that was not a factor in his decision to relinquish the chairmanship. Mr Bailey said: ?The Rotary Club asked me to become president, which is a great honour. I just felt I could not devote the correct amount of time to both, so I decided I had to step down from the chamber.? He added: ?The Rotary do a lot of good work and their profile has been raised by the tsunami appeal providing Shelterboxes and I hope, in Okehampton, we can keep that profile high.? Mr Bailey said he was looking forward to the ?fresh challenge? of the year-long presidency of the Rotary Club, of which he has been a member for more than five years. He said after eight years as the public face of the chamber in Okehampton he felt it was time for a change and offered a chance for new people to come forward with new ideas. He will not be severing his ties with the chamber, and will remain a committee member.