The Northern Ireland heat of the Butchery WorldSkills UK National Competition was won by Clougher’s Dylan Gillespie last week
Dylan, 19, who works for Clougher Valley Meats, Clougher, Tyrone, gave four rivals the chop in the closely contested heat hosted by Southern Regional College, Newry on Thursday, June 18.
He and the other Irish and Welsh butchers now have a nervous wait until August, following the England heat at Leeds City College on July 9, to discover if they have made it into the final.
The six top scoring butchers from the combined Wales, Northern Ireland and England heats will qualify for the final at The Skills Show, to be held at the NEC Birmingham from November 19 to 21.The Skills Show is the nation’s largest skills and careers event and helps to shape the future of the next generation.
“I was pleased to win the heat because it was my first competition,” said Dylan, a former butchery apprentice who began in the industry three years ago. “I had been practicing for a couple of months and everything went ok in the heat because I knew what I was doing.
“I would like to go through to the final because I enjoyed the competition, but I will have to wait until after the England heat to see if I’m one of the top six butchers. It would be nice to get through and win the final, but you can never think too far ahead.”
Dylan, who comes from a farming family in Ballygawley, said he enjoyed watching butchers at work, which encouraged him to seek a career in the industry.
Heat runner up was Diane Watt, 18, of Downeys Butcher, Newry, who is the only girl in the competition. “I think it’s brilliant that I can represent women and show that we can became butchers,” she said.
“I live on the family farm and that is what pushed me towards becoming a butcher. When an animal leaves our farm I now know the complete process of what happens to it. I really enjoy being a butcher and find the work very interesting.”
She said she had prepared for around five months for the competition and, although some things didn’t go according to plan, she was pleased with the outcome. “This was my first competition and it has been a really good experience,” she added.
She and the three other butchers in the heat – James Gracey, 20, of Dromore, Caoimhin Leonard, 18, of Lurgan and Adam Spence, 18, of Lisburn – are students at Southern Regional College, Newry.
The judges were meat industry consultant Viv Harvey and Cambrian Training Company’s head of curriculum for food manufacture Chris Jones.
Mr Jones congratulated all five young heat finalists on the high standard of their work. “The standard was really good considering how young they are and there were some good ideas,” he said. “It was the first competition for all the butchers and they will have learnt a lot to build on for next year.”
Award-winning, Welshpool-based training provider Cambrian Training Company has been appointed to organise the butchery competition on behalf of WorldSkills UK. The heats are sponsored by The National Federation of Meat and Food Traders, Institute of Meat and PBEX.
WorldSkills UK National Skills Competitions are designed to enhance apprenticeship and training programmes and improve and drive skills in the industry. Butchery is one of more than 60 skills to feature in this year’s competitions.
Cambrian Training Company has brought together the main players in the meat industry to form a steering group to organise the new butchery competition.
Partners include Pearsons, Scottish Federation of Meat Traders, The National Federation of Meat & Food Traders, Institute of Meat, Eblex, Dunbia Ltd, Castell Howell Foods, Leeds City College, Improve – The National Skills Academy for Food & Drink, Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales, Randall Parker Foods and Mr Harvey.
Having taken butchery apprentices to demonstrate their skills at the Skills Show every year since 2011, Cambrian Training Company was keen to add the vocation to the skills competition to raise the profile of skilful butchers across the UK.
Picture caption:
Winner Dylan Gillespie with (from left) Southern Regional College’s chief executive Brian Doran and judges Chris Jones and Viv Harvey.
For more information please contact Katy Godsell, Cambrian Training Company’s Marketing Manager, on Tel: 01938 555893 email: katy@cambriantraining.com or Duncan Foulkes, public relations consultant, on 01686 650818
