Jeff is presently Chair of the Company and a Market Drayton town councillor. He retired from Keele University where he lectured in social work for many years. He was National President of the Social care Association which represents staff in Care homes and Chair of the England Committee of the British Association of Social Workers..

The Town Council looked for ways to regenerate the rural community. Recognising that the major asset was that the story of food could be told within ten minutes of the town the Council organised a Taste of the Town Exhibition to reclaim the town's links with the countryside around. The success of this led to the formation of the Taste of the Town Co. as a vehicle for promoting the local food connection. Jeff's interest in community development led to the construction of the website with the facility to develop a virtual interactive community. Further exhibitions and presence of the Company at local events provide the opportunity for members to meet together and re-enforce their identity with the Company and with each other. Clusters are emerging that link members with similar interests including those offering farm gate sales, possible places of potential interest to visitors and places of environmental interest.

Jeff's early association with food was the memory of his mother working in the local Co-op grocery store in London and eating a bun loaf round while watching American troop lorries drive past his school on their way to the invasion of Europe. Not a gourmet but an enthusiast. His interest in food, in the importance of place and belonging in our lives, and in the regeneration of the town coalesce in the focus of the Taste of the Town as a community development project. The excitement of the project is summed up in the quote:-

"The goal of the internet revolution, if it can be said to have one, should not be to replicate the world we know, but to improve it. As we explore the farthest reaches of our new World Wide Web, we must also use technology to fortify the local webs in which we dwell". A.L . Shapiro