Leeds City College

Two of our butchery apprentices have been selected to represent Great Britain at the World Butchers’ Challenge.

Nikita Somma and Will Callaghan have been named as part of the Team GB Butchery UK Lions Squad that will compete in Australia in 2028.

The pair will also join the team as it takes part in national and international competitions and demonstrations in the run-up to the main event.

Nikita, who works at Sykes House Farm, near Wetherby, has already achieved national recognition. In 2025, she competed in the Battle of the Butchers at The Dalziel Apprentice Butcher Competition, winning the Golden Cleaver Award and two other categories.

She then went on to be crowned Champion Meat Apprentice of the Year and Best Retail Butchery Apprentice 2025 at the Institute of Meat (IoM) and Worshipful Company of Butchers’ Annual Prizegiving.

Nikita, who was also recently named Leeds City College’s Apprentice Learner of the Year, is keen to raise the profile of women in butchering and inspire others to follow in her footsteps.

She said: “I want to motivate more women to join me; one day I plan to open my own educational establishment to help more young women into this extremely rewarding trade.”

Will, who works at R H Binks & sons in Wakefield, started his journey with us 2022, doing a Level 2 Butcher apprenticeship. He went on to win the York Butchers Guild Apprentice of the Year award and the Luminate Team Working award, and progressed to a Level 3 Advanced Butcher apprenticeship.

For Will, being selected to join the Team GB Butchery UK Lions squad is a huge milestone.

He said: “This is a massive achievement, and I am very proud to represent Leeds City College, my country and my workplace – and I’m looking forward to working with the best butchers the country has to offer.”

Made up of 24 talented professionals from a variety of independent butchers and farms, the squad members were chosen after a rigorous selection process that considered skill, commitment and consistency.

The team will have its first informal meet-up on 17 May, before attending the Dalziel Butchers Show, at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate, in June.