COURAGEOUS trainee butcher Tom Stevens drew gasps from the audience at a presentation ceremony as he recounted how lost his hand after getting it stuck in a mincer.

He was among those recognised at the 2014 Pride of Somerset Youth Awards.

Tom, 16, of Westhay, near Glastonbury, left school last summer to start an apprenticeship as a butcher but just a few weeks later lost his right hand in an accident.

The ordeal lasted two hours and he was nominated for his determination to not let the setback throw him off his chosen career path.

He defied the expectations of everyone by being back at work as an apprentice within a month.

His nomination said that he is at work every day with a smile on his face, looking for ways to develop his career, and does not expect to be treated any differently from his colleagues and friends.

Asked about his remarkable come-back, he told the audience: “I got fed up of being at home – there’s only so much daytime TV you can watch.”

 

The awards are run by the

Rotary Club of Taunton, your Somerset County Gazette, Bridgwater Mercury, Chard and Ilminster News, Burnham and Highbridge Weekly News, and local radio station BBC Somerset.

A prize fund came from donations from the Rotary Club, Avon and Somerset Constabulary, Somerset Cricket Museum, and Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service.

Certificates were presented at Somerset College’s conference centre in Taunton, which was provided free by the college.

and to watch video footage from the ceremony, which took place on March 7, see below.