Lucy Crawshaw of Taylor’s Farm Shop in Lathom Lancashire is Britain’s best Young Butcher, winning the title of PREMIER YOUNG BUTCHER 2015 by beating six other butcher apprentices at the finals of the PREMIER YOUNG BUTCHER COMPETITION (PYBC) organised by the National Federation of Meat and Food Traders (NFMFT) at the MEATUP exhibition at the Agricultural Exhibition Centre (AEC) in Stoneleigh on Tuesday earlier this week.
The five hour, six category competition recognised as the most demanding skills competition open to UK butchery apprentices, saw seven of the Country’s top apprentices demonstrate their skills in seam butchery and creating a display for Ready to Eat, Stuffed Roast, Barbecue and Kitchen Ready products.
With fourteen trophies up for grabs the competitors were assessed for their craft skill, innovation and working practices by industry experts Danny Upson of Dalziel, AHDB pork Product Manager, CEO of the Institute of Meat and International Butchery Judge Keith Fisher and National Team Coach, industry consultant and RAPS (UK) representative Viv Harvey.
Twenty three year old Lucy, a level three Meat Ipswich apprentice who has 13 A* to B grade GCSE’s, 4 AS levels and a triple distinction in Countryside Land Management showed dominance over the other competitors by WINNING four of the six categories for her Ready to Eat, Stuffed Roast, Seam butchery and Barbecue products as well as being HIGHLY COMMENDED for Display.
PYBC 2015 RUNNER UP was Assistant Manager twenty two year old Joe Smith working at Lishman’s of Ilkley in North Yorkshire. Joe has completed a level three apprenticeship with Leeds City College and also has level two Meat and Poultry as well as level two Health and Safety. No stranger to competition, Joe competed in the Q Guild’s competition at the NEC in 2013 and won the Dalziel Young Butcher Competition in Leeds last September.
On Tuesday, Joe got second place WINNING the Kitchen Ready and Display categories and for being HIGHLY COMMENDED twice for his Ready to Eat and Barbecue products.
Also HIGHLY COMMENDED twice was twenty one year old Leeds City College level three apprentice George Clapham from Farbarsey Farm Shop near Halifax, West Yorkshire in the Stuffed Roast and Seam Butchery categories. While twenty three year old fellow Leeds City College apprentice Matthew Lewis from Blackerhall Farm Shop near Wakefield, South Yorkshire picked up a HIGHLY COMMENDED for his Kitchen Ready products.
The remaining FINALISTS competing and taking home certificates and medals were Meat Ipswich apprentices, twenty one year old Tara Davies from Gog Magog Farm Shop in Cambridgeshire, twenty two year old Ryan Douglas of Carnivore Foods in Sidcup, Kent and twenty year old Lewis Perry from Packington Moor Farm Shop near Lichfield in Staffordshire.
Speaking at the presentations, NFMFT President and South London butcher JIM SPERRING said:
“It’s great to see young apprentices with the sought of skills demonstrated here today. Full marks to them all, they’re a credit to the trade, I’m sure they all have great futures ahead of them”!
The Premier Young Butcher Competition 2015 organised by the NFMFT and hosted by Yandell Media at the MEATUP exhibition at the AEC in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire was sponsored by AHDB Pork, AHDB Beef & Lamb , CAMBRIAN TRAINING, the INSTITUTE OF MEAT (IoM), RAPS (UK), TADMARTON PRODUCTS, QUALITY MEAT SCOTLAND (QMS), WEDDEL SWIFT and the WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF BUTCHERS.
