High quality Meat Scotland (QMS) is selling butchery for Scottish Apprenticeship Week, highlighting the success of butchers in its Careers programme.
Scottish Apprenticeship Week 2024 runs from Monday 4th March to Friday eighth March, celebrating the contributions of apprenticeships to people, employers and Scotland’s financial system.
QMS mentioned that the annual occasion “serves as a platform to champion the deserves of work-based studying throughout various sectors”, and thought of Stirling butcher Marc Ingram as an apprenticeship success story. Ingram began on the QMS and Ability Improvement Scotland Butchery Careers programme three years in the past, and QMS reported that he’s at present working in direction of Scottish Apprentice of the 12 months.
Sarah Miller, QMS chief government, mentioned: “Marc exemplifies the potential unleashed via apprenticeships. At the moment a Stage 2 Apprentice in Meat & Poultry Abilities at Smiddy Butchers, Marc has emerged as a beacon of inspiration, exceeding his personal expectations.
“His journey is a compelling story of resilience, creativity and private development. And whereas he attributes his success to his apprenticeship in butchery alone, having discovered his ardour, he clearly works exhausting and places his all into his profession.”
Ingram spoke of how he left faculty at 15 after scuffling with dyslexia, working in a manufacturing unit earlier than touchdown his apprenticeship at Smiddy Butchers in Blair Drummond, Stirling. He mentioned: “After I was youthful, I assumed the one means to achieve success was to go to school and get a level however I knew this wasn’t an possibility for me. With the assistance of my Interrupted Studying Providers, I found the butchery apprenticeship which has been life-changing.
“Numerous folks see butchery as ‘simply chopping up meat’ however there are such a lot of methods to do extra and completely different. I like to experiment and discover concepts, discovering methods so as to add worth to provide. It’s about taking one thing easy and creating it into one thing distinctive.”
Constructing ability and confidence via mentorship
QMS mentioned that via “hands-on coaching and mentorship” underneath Fraser Sivewright, supervisor at Smiddy Butchers, Ingram has been “honing his craft, exploring revolutionary methods and infusing conventional practices with a contemporary twist”.
“I couldn’t have executed any of this with out the workforce at Smiddy,” mentioned Ingram. “Everybody has been extraordinarily supportive, significantly my supervisor Fraser who’s been extremely encouraging and has believed in me because the very starting.”
“We’re delighted that Marc has received a lot from the apprenticeship programme,” mentioned QMS’ Gordon Newlands. “He actually deserves being a finalist within the Scottish Apprentice of the 12 months Award and we want him the perfect of luck for the ultimate stage of the competitors.
“Initiatives just like the Butchery Careers programme foster a brand new technology of expert professionals. By championing apprenticeships, these initiatives bridge ability gaps, empower people, and future-proof industries towards evolving calls for.”
Ingram mentioned: “Butchery has executed extra for me within the final two years than faculty ever did. It’s not nearly chopping meat; it’s about creativity, innovation, and including worth to provide. Apprenticeships present one other pathway for people to thrive and contribute meaningfully to our communities.”
QMS said that native butchers have been supporting round 250 folks endeavor Trendy Apprenticeships in Scotland, with chief government Miller saying: “Scotland’s excessive avenue impartial butchers are sometimes one of many nation’s unrecognised success tales – and an actual pressure to be reckoned with. Not solely do they showcase and promote Scotch purple meat, however their deal with customer support, in-depth product data, revolutionary concepts and creating the following technology is paying dividends.”
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