A shortlist of nine British 18-23 year olds has been revealed for the Premier Young Butcher 2017 competition.
Six individuals will be selected from this list to compete at the meat industry’s dedicated exhibition, Meatup, in the MK Arena, Milton Keynes on Thursday 25th May in what promises to be the most exciting UK craft butchery skills competition of the year.
Out of the applications made by the closing date (Wednesday 1st February), nine were chosen, soon to be reduced to six who will compete for 14 Premier Young Butcher trophies.
These include the categories: Ready to Eat, Stuffed Roast, Seam Butchery, Barbecue, Kitchen Ready and Display. The runner up accolade and of course, the Premier Young Butcher 2017 title will also be competed for.
Those on the shortlist include 19 year old Jack Eagles who works for C Lidgate in Holland Park, London, and Sam Deighton, 18, who works at Barfields Butchers in Brighton, Sussex.
They are joined by Matthew Freeburn from County Armagh, Northern Ireland who at 20 years old works for Wilkinson’s Butchers and Delicatessen in Tandragee, and Level 3 Meat and Poultry apprentice 22 year old Jack Fisher who works for Walter Smiths in Lichfield, Staffordshire.
21 year old World Skills 2016 finalist James Gracey from Quails of Dromore, 19 year old Matthew Guiney from Quails Butchers in Banbridge, and 20 year old Thomas Lea from the Walter Smith, Wyevale Huntingdon store are also on the shortlist.
The final two hopefuls are 19 year old Harry Smith who works for Aubrey Allen in Leamington Spa, and 22 year old Elsie Yardley, a Meat and Poultry apprentice from Hard’s of Halstead.
All nine individuals will now go on for further selection before the six finalists are announced in March.
Premier Young Butcher 2017 is organised by the National Federation of Meat and Food Traders, hosted by Yandell Media Group and sponsored by AHDB Beef & Lamb, AHDB Pork, Cambrian Training, Institute of Meat, MEAT Ipswich, RAPS UK, Scotch Butchers Club, Weddel Swift and the Worshipful Company of Butchers.
Meatup is a trade exhibition now firmly established as an important commercial networking event in the meat industry calendar.
The new look 2017 show will provide a top class forum where suppliers and buyers will get together face-to-face and do good business.
You can find out more by visiting the official website: www.meatup.co.uk.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
