We’re delighted to have our products endorsed and championed by two outstanding sportspeople: Non Evans MBE and David Todd.
Non Evans’ career is hard to sum up in a few lines: she has competed with honours at international level for over 20 years in five different sports – Rugby Union, Judo, Olympic Freestyle Wrestling, Weightlifting and Powerlifting (she is in fact the only female to have competed at three different disciplines at the Commonwealth Games). She’s also a TV and Radio presenter, successful businesswoman and recipient of an MBE.
After sustaining a sporting career-ending injury in March 2011 she poured her energies into other things, including motivational public speaking, and in October of that year, was awarded the MBE by Princess Anne, The Princess Royal, at a ceremony in Windsor Castle.
Non still trains herself and others, so she is fully aware of the importance of eating top quality protein – and we’re very proud to be her meat supplier.
Also flying the flag for Hugh Phillips Gower Butcher is our very own staff member David Todd, who also happens to be 2017 winner of Wales’ Strongest Man Under 80 kilos. The competition challenges include keg tossing and various lifting and carrying tasks. David trained four times a week to build up his strength and ate meat from Hugh Phillips to boost his muscle.
It’s great to have David on the team here – his lifting and carrying skills never go to waste! He’s also further proof of the value of our products to people who care about the provenance and quality of what they consume.
One to one with: Non Evans
Q. You’ve excelled in so many different sports. Do you have a favourite?
A. Judo was my first love because that’s where I started, and the minute I started fighting I loved it. But even though Judo has taken me to four Commonwealth Games, rugby probably gave me the most pleasure because it’s a team sport: you have friends with you and you travel the world – I loved it.
Q. Your injury in 2011 ended your competitive sporting career. How did you come to terms with that?
A. In the run up to the 2012 Olympics I had retired from rugby to focus on my wrestling career, but then I snapped my hamstring. I’d had many injuries in the past but I always came back from those. This was different; I knew it was the final one and that got me very down – I cried a lot, but then I started to think about what I can to turn a negative into a positive. I wrote to BBC in London and sent them show reels and got a job commentating – so I did get to go to the games in the end. I commentated on the weight lifting and wrestling and it was probably the hardest job I’ve ever done – it was such long hours – but it was brilliant to be there.
Q. You’ve gone on to work as a personal trainer. Tell us about your own training regime.
A. As an ex athlete you always want to keep yourself in shape – it’s ingrained in you, so I train as much as I can, and I love to train other people. It gives me great joy to see people achieve their goals, whether these are to get fit or lose weight. I’ve been able to turn what I have learnt over the years to helping people. It’s nice to give something back. I didn’t go into coaching because I prefer training people one to one, creating eating and exercise plans to help people turn their lives around. That gives me great fulfilment.
Q. What do you eat to build your strength?
A. Until I discovered Hugh Philips Gower Butcher I didn’t realise there was such good meat out there. I am very body conscious, so I take care over what I eat and the biggest different I’ve noticed about the meat from Hugh Phillips is that if I put it on my George Foreman grill, hardly any liquid comes out of it, whereas supermarket meat shrivels because it’s pumped full of water. Meat from Hugh Phillips stays the same size and tastes delicious.
Q. What do you like about buying your meat from Hugh Phillips?
A. Aside from the quality of the meat, the main thing I like is that it’s a family run business. I love going to Swansea market and meeting the boys on the stall. I also visited the farm, had a brilliant welcome, and saw how it all worked. It was lovely to see Cath taking over the business – like me she’s a woman in a man’s world.
Q. What are your favourite items from Hugh Phillips?
A. I love the fillet steak and the sirloin – they are so tender you could cut hem with a spoon. I’m not normally someone to eat faggots but I’m now addicted to Hugh Phillips’ faggots, made to Cath’s grandmother’s recipe, served with with peas and potatoes – they are absolutely delicious.
One to one with: David Todd
Q. What’s your best sporting moment so far?
A. Winning Wales’ Strongest Man Under 80k was brilliant – it was nice to qualify for the bigger competitions. Another high was placing second last year in a deadlift competition in Wales’ Strongest Man under 80k, especially as it was refereed by Eddie Hall who is the UK’s strongest man and has the world record for the biggest deadlift. It was intimidating but he was good – a really positive but scary guy!
Q. When and why did you get into strength training?
A. I first got into it when I was 21. I was just curious to see how much stronger I could get in the gym. There were a few power lifters where I was training so I started to copy them.
Q. How does your job help?
A. There’s a lot of lifting awkward objects, and that’s useful because whereas power lifting is relatively easy as you’re lifting a bar which you can get a solid grip on, with strong man competitions you are lifting odd shaped objects – it could be anything from a keg to a car.
Q. How long have you worked for Hugh Phillips and what do you enjoy about it?
A. I’ve worked here for nearly 2 years. It’s a happy, easy going environment, and as part of the job I get breakfast and lunch, which means I get to eat a lot of their meat – usually bacon, sausage and egg for breakfast and chicken for dinner.
Q. Tell us about your training regime.
A. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I stick to my basic lifts and assistance work – for example, bench presses, squats, deadlifts and overhead presses. On a Saturday or Sunday I do a lot of fitness work with weights. I spend 2-3 hours a night training in the week and 3+ hours on a weekend.
Q. What motivates you to keep training?
A. My kids enjoy my videos!
Q. What do you eat to build your strength?
A. Absolutely anything. I eat a lot of chicken, beef, potatoes and rice. A company called JBC sponsor me for sports supplements and protein shakes. I bring chicken home from work – it’s such a versatile meat, and I’m a big fan of Thai curries.
Q. What are your favourite products from Hugh Phillips?
A. I especially like the chicken and the steaks. The bacon is stunning – it’s low salt, and you don’t see a lot of residue coming off it when you cook it. Unlike supermarket bacon, it doesn’t reduce almost to nothing.
Q. Why do you prefer their meat?
A. It’s not pumped with water, you are getting what you see: your chicken breast, burger or steak won’t shrink down to nothing when you cook it. The beef is properly hung and matured and the meat has built up minimal food miles, meaning it hasn’t sat around, been in and out of refrigeration or been bashed around by being been carted here, there and everywhere.