Talented butchers from England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be seeking to give their rivals the chop in the Butchery WorldSkills UK National Competition final in November.
The six top scoring butchers from the combined heats in Wales, Northern Ireland and England are announced today and they will now put their skills to the test in 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.
Representing Wales are Matthew Edwards, 23, of Vaughan’s Family Butchers, Penyffordd, near Chester, Daniel John Allen-Raftery, 31, of Randall Parker, Llanidloes and Peter Rushforth, 19, of Swans Farm Shop, Mold. They all impressed at the Wales heat hosted by Randall Parker Foods at Dolwen, Llanidloes.
Representing England, after qualifying from two heats held in Leeds last month, are John Brereton, 40, butchery manager at the award-winning Ludlow Food Centre in Ludlow and Matthew Parkes, 21, assistant manager for Walter Smith Fine Foods in Willenhall,
Carrying Irish hopes will be Dylan Gillespie, 19, form Clougher Valley Meats, Clougher, Tyrone, who won the Northern Ireland heat at Southern Regional College, Newry.
Chairman of the judges at all the heats was meat industry consultant Viv Harvey.
Award-winning, Welshpool-based training provider Cambrian Training Company has been appointed to organise the butchery competition on behalf of WorldSkills UK and the heats were 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.
Arwyn Watkins, Cambrian Training Company’s managing director, congratulated the finalists and praised the high standards attained in the heats. “We are really proud to bring butchery to the Skills Show for the first time and all six finalists should be very proud of their achievements to date in this competition,” he said.
“This is the skills showcase for butchery and we hope to make this inaugural competition one of the main features at this year’s Skills Show so that there is continued support for future years for butchers.”
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.
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
