A 94-year-old south Shropshire farmer who has been a member of rural insurer NFU Mutual for 70 years has been presented with a hamper for his long service.

Jack Parker still drives around Manor Farm in Stanton Lacy most days in his John Deere tractor, to check the farm is still in working order, even though the farm is now run by his son Phil.

“He still tells me what to do!” said Phil, 60.

“Even in his 70s and early 80s he was doing a hell of a lot, it’s only in the last few years he’s slowed down.

“We’re tenant farmers, and he’s still a partner in the business. Our landlord has allowed him to stay in the farmhouse, he doesn’t want to move, it’s where he’s lived since 1960.”

Julia Sadler, from NFU Mutual’s Shropshire South West Agency, delivered the hamper to celebrate Mr Parker being their longest standing customer.

“Since NFU Mutual was founded by seven farmers in 1910, our commitment to customers and providing a local, personalised service has always been the first priority,” said Ms Sadler.

“This is one of the reasons why so many of our customers choose to stay with us for a long time.”

Born in the suburbs of Manchester, Mr Parker first helped local farmers near Stockport before working on farms in Market Drayton near Stafford, where he saved up enough money to buy a farm in Shropshire.

“In 1952 he bought a place in Bishops Castle in the Shropshire hills,” added his son.

“I wouldn’t call it a hill farm but it wasn’t far off, some parts were pretty vertical.

“He was there for eight years and then he got the tenancy on the farm we’re on now and sold that place to stock this farm. I was born on this farm.”

Mr Parker senior was chairman of the Bishops Castle NFU branch in the 1950s and was made Shropshire NFU County Chairman in 1968, just after the 1967 foot-and-mouth outbreak in the county.

He was also Chairman of the Shropshire Grassland Society and a committee member of the British Grassland Society. He used to milk dairy cows until 2008, but now the farm is mainly arable, growing oilseed rape, winter barley, winter wheat, and bit of forage maize. The farm also has beef cattle.