A former apprentice butcher at a farm shop is celebrating after winning a prestigious apprenticeship award.

Cameron McNicoll, from Cedarbarn Farm Shop’s butchery team, was presented with the Nicholson Award at a recent apprenticeship and employer celebration event at Bishop Burton College, near Beverley.

Mr McNicoll was nominated by Michael Sword, who is the coach and assessor in butchery at the college, where he studied for two years to gain his butchery qualification.

Mr Sword said: “Cameron has won the prestigious Nicholson Award for his exceptional performance during his apprenticeship. He consistently showed a strong work ethic and dedication to both his apprenticeship and his butchery work at Cedarbarn.

“His hard work resulted in receiving a ‘pass with excellence’ in his vocational competence discussion during his end-point assessment. This achievement reflects the time he spent carrying out research and his active role during lessons and discussions at college. Cameron has put this knowledge to good use and can now be seen on social media, advertising the latest products for Cedarbarn. Cameron is a deserving recipient of the Nicholson Award.”

The Nicholson Award is named after experienced butcher Paul Nicholson, who is a butchery assessor and leads the apprenticeship team at Bishop Burton.

Head butcher at Cedarbarn, Patrick Donaghy said: “The whole Cedarbarn team are absolutely delighted about Cameron’s well-deserved win. He works hard to promote the fabulous cuts and specials that the butchery team prepare and is a real asset to our team.”

The butchery at Cedarbarn Farm Shop, Pickering, is home to a team of seven who butcher and prepare home-reared beef and lamb and Yorkshire pork and poultry for the farm shop and the 80-seater café.