Our team
Meet the Team
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Di Archer
CEO & Co-founder of tastelife UK
Di is a trainer, writer and speaker with a theological background. Family experience led to her co-founding and now heading up tastelife. She loves working with the gifted tastelife team and volunteers, and is delighted that together they offer such innovative and effective resources for those affected by eating disorders.
Di and her husband Graham have three grownup children, an assortment of gorgeous grandchildren . . . and a hot tub. The latter for medicinal purposes, of course!
Di Archer MA with Distinction, Theology, Nottingham University, PTLLS (Adult Education), BA Lancaster University
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Marie Dove
Network and Training Lead
Marie trained as a tastelife leader in 2015 and has run several courses face-to-face in Hastings and, more recently, online courses via Zoom. She became a key trainer in 2017 and joined the Core Team in February 2021 as the Operations Coordinator. Now Marie is the Network and Training Lead, which means she trains and looks after the fabulous volunteer leaders who run our community recovery course.
She lives in Hastings on the South Coast and enjoys films, days out with her son and daughter, and swimming (but sea swimming only in the summer!). -
Cherry Dakin
Youth Track Coordinator
Our Youth Track Coordinator, Cherry, works to get our resources for young people and kids into youth groups and schools. Cherry loves supporting people to use our resources to teach young people about eating disorders and how to avoid developing one. Cherry’s background in teaching and marketing makes her a great fit for this role.
In her spare time, Cherry loves to explore historic London, go on country walks and bake yummy things!
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Fiona Tipson
Network Administrator
Fiona is the network administrator and she helps our wonderful community of leaders. Fiona’s job is to ensure that all of our leaders are supported and that courses are run as efficiently as possible.
Growing up, Fiona has lived in a various countries around the globe and now Fiona, her husband and their two boys all love to travel when they can. In her spare time she loves reading and can spend a very long time wandering around book shops.
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Jeff Cotterill
tastelife Trustee & Secretary
Jeff joins us as our new Secretary. Jeff was a GP in Rugby for many years and retired in 2017. He was also a healthcare commissioner for Coventry & Rugby Clinical Commissioning Group. Jeff is a member of Bilton Evangelical Church (BEC), where he is on the worship and prayer teams and has been a trustee since 2019. He is also a trustee of Christians Against Poverty Rugby.
Jeff enjoys organising information, taking minutes and writing policies - a passion not shared by many. Jeff brings a valuable general medical expertise to the team. He has a grown-up daughter at home with ME, and understands first-hand the challenges of long-term conditions.
Meet the Trustees
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Richard Mason
Chair of Trustees
Richard is tastelife’s brilliant Chair of Trustees as well as being a trustee at the church he attends in his local area of Rugby. Richard runs a finance consultancy business where he acts as a mentor, business coach and consultant to a portfolio of clients. He also works on a number of finance raising projects.
Richard is a proud husband and a dad to 3 children. In his free time, other than ‘husbanding’ and ‘dadding’, Richard loves nothing more than getting out on his bike as he is a very keen cyclist!
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Peter Jackson
Treasurer
Peter is tastelife’s trusty treasurer as he is a qualified accountant with over 25 years experience of voluntarily helping charities. His favourite thing about being a tastelife trustee is participating in a team that makes a clear impact on those they are able to support.
In his spare time, Peter loves going on the occasional bike ride and walks with friends (not forgetting to stop for coffee and cake of course!) He also assists his wife – the chief gardener – in tending their garden.
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Jo Hurst
Trustee
Jo has been involved with tastelife for 10 years, having been a participant in the tastelife community course and then training as a leader. She has a professional background in occupational therapy and currently works as an Assistant Professor with a special interest in research related to eating disorders.
Jo supports tastelife today because of her passion for bringing hope and help for recovery to those who need it through using her experiences to support the growth and development of the charity.
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Debbie Niblett
Trustee
Debbie started her journey with tastelife as their administrator and first employee in 2015 when the charity was in its infancy. She now works for Coventry Diocese but is passionate about helping people and so became a tastelife trustee in 2023. We are so pleased to have Debbie on board!
In her spare time, Debbie keeps herself very busy. You can often find Debbie at the gym, at a parkrun on a Saturday morning, a football game in the afternoon and a gig in the evening! She somehow makes room for her love of motorbikes too!
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Zoë Mason
Trustee
Zoë’s been a trustee for tastelife for since 2017, with her passion for helping those struggling with eating disorders and their families starting at a young age. Zoë loves seeing the positive impact tastelife has had on so many people, and can’t wait to see all that the charity can achieve in the future.
On a weekend Zoë will most likely be found pottering round some slightly-too-expensive shops, out for a run with her husband or seeing friends over an IPA at the local pub! We love having Zoë on the trustee team and are so grateful for her.