Keighley butcher Roy Dykes has been elected president of the Confederation of Yorkshire Butchers Councils.

His first act was to issue a clarion call to butchers across the region to support the annual Great Yorkshire pork pie, sausage and products competition which will be staged at the Cedar Court hotel, Bradford, in November.

A butcher for 40 years, the last 18 at the helm of his own business in Keighley Market Hall, Mr Dykes has been a stalwart of the competition, both as a judge and competitor, winning awards for his home-made sausages and beef burgers from locally-sourced meat.

He said: “Yorkshire butchers produce some of the best pork pies, sausages, black puddings and burgers in the land. We are challenging them all to stand up be and counted and put their products to the test in the Great Yorkshire.”