World Champion
Butcher Apprentice and
Young Butcher competitions
Team GB Apprentices and Young Butchers to compete in World Butchers Challenge
In celebration of National Apprenticeship Week, the Team GB Butchery board has announced the butchers selected to compete in the World Champion Butcher Apprentice and Young Butcher competitions at the World Butchers Challenge (WBC) in Paris on March 30-31st.
Representing the United Kingdom by category are:
World Champion Butcher Apprentice:
Connor Ringrose
Connor (23) is a third-generation apprentice butcher working with his uncle in the family business, Ringrose Butchers, in Leicestershire. In his words, Connor is brimming with ‘youth, energy and inspiration’ and is ‘buzzing to be a part of this.’
Ben Megahy
Ben (22) hails from Perth where he works with his father, also a butcher, at Simon Howie Butchers. He says he’s ‘ready to take his development to the next level by competing in the World Butchers Challenge.’
Young Butcher:
Kirsty Neil
Kirsty (24) is already assistant manager of the largest of the six Scott Brothers shops on Strathmartine Road in Dundee. Now counting down the days till the WBC Kirsty says she is ‘super excited’ about the challenge ahead.
Supporting the team as a reserve will be Mia Tamburrini (22), owner of private butchery business Raise the Steaks and 2023 Champion Meat Apprentice in the Institute of Meat and Worshipful Company of Butcher’s annual prizegiving.
Henry Curd
‘Butcher Curd’ (31) is head butcher and butchery manager for Paley Farm, a pasture for life farm and butchery in Kent. Having grown up on a farm Henry says he’s aiming to tell the farm to fork story in his product display.
Modelled on the core WBC competition both groups of butchers will have just two hours and thirty minutes to break down a range of primal cuts into a display of pre-determined products and their own creations.
After several months of arduous training the decision as to who made the final cut was down to the Team GB Butchery board. UK Lions team manager Simon Taylor shared the news with the UK Lions Squad after their training session last month at Plumpton College butchery training centre in Sussex.
Taylor, former captain of Team GB and an Institute of Meat accredited Master Butcher, said:
“What a talented bunch of young butchers we have to represent their country at the World Butchers Challenge. Competing in Paris isn’t just an opportunity to make their first mark on the world stage, but also to learn and be inspired by the best of the best across the globe.”
Underpinning the UK Lions Squad is the Team GB Butchery Board, made up of representatives of the The Dalesman Group, Scottish Craft Butchers, Q Guild, National Craft Butchers, Institute of Meat, AHDB, QMS, and Dalebrook.
Gold Sponsor: DB Foods.
Silver Sponsors: AHDB, QMS, The Dalesman Group, Crosby Training, Meat Ipswich, Angel Refrigeration.
Supporters: Verstegen, RAPS, Plumpton College.
Anyone wishing to pledge their support for British butchery and the UK Lions Squad can make a donation on the GoFundMe page: https://gofund.me/3503bfc9.