He has been a butcher since he left school at 16.

More than 30 years on, he remains as passionate about his profession as ever and people from all over Gwent flock to him for their meat.

Mike Edwards did not start out in life dreaming of butchery – he grew up thinking he would be in the army. He tells his story to DANIELLE SHERIDAN.

MY original plan was to go into the army in the catering corps.

I was interested in food at school. I was the only boy in my cookery class, there were about 20 girls and me.

From the age of 15 I was in the army cadets in Griffithstown.

At 16 I left school. While I was waiting for the army to kick off I thought I needed a job in the mean time. There was a butcher’s apprentice job going in Wilding & Kent butchers in Pontypool and I started the next day.

It was a job I took to instantly, I was almost a natural.

I learned how to cut down carcasses, bone joints of meat out, how to cut chops and what to do with certain cuts.

Roy Price, the manager, taught me most of what I know now. It is the type of job that you never stop learning, there is no time limit on it.

Most butchers will tell you you never stop learning.

I left there just to seek a bit more experience.

I have had butchers’ jobs in various other shops but the one where I learned most of my stuff was at Palfrey Butchers on Church Road, Newport.

The army just never happened.

I found something I was naturally good at, I was getting paid and my mother wasn’t keen on me going into the army.

I carried on doing what I was doing. I worked for Palfrey for 10 years under Graham Palfrey.

That’s where I learnt to make sausages and the more specific cuts like lamb steakettes, as opposed to a standard burger.

People said to me at the time, ‘Why don’t you start your own business?’ Things sort of fell into place. A family member offered me the money and I went for it.

I opened up a shop in Cwmbran called Edwards of Cwmbran, in Pontnewydd village.

I was on my own and it was scary but exciting at the same time.

I had a shop there for six years and it became apparent I needed a bit of help, so I took on a young lad who was very much like me when I first started.

He was 16, straight out of school, and I taught him the ropes. He is still a butcher today.

I moved to Newport in 2006. The business has grown and it continues to grow as we go along.

Being a butcher is hard work. I work 12-hour days.

Opening my own business was a defining moment because it set me off on a different path.

When you own your own business the stress and the worry is down to you.

If you have a hard week then you start worrying how you are going to pay the mortgage, if you have a good week, what you spend it on.

There are lots of worries, lots of financial issues, the only person responsible is you. Providing for your family is down to you.

But if I didn’t have the shop now I don’t know what I would do.

People losing confidence in what the supermarket sells has done me a bit of good.

As a butcher I have complete traceability and people have confidence in what I’m selling.

The only thing I buy in the supermarket is tinned goods.

I buy fruit and veg from the shop up the road, bread from the bakery, I buy everything from local shops because I understand what it’s like to be in business on the high street.

I support every other shop and they support me.

We need to shop local. If we don’t, this is the end of the high street.

I would like to think there is a niche for people who understand meat and want the quality of meat that I sell. I can give lots of technical advice. That helps and I think it will stand me in good stead until at least I retire. I would say I am known well to the people in the area and it is nice when I’m out and about and I hear a conversation about ‘that nice butchers down on Caerleon Road.’ Outside of work my passion is football. I like sport in general but in particular Newport County AFC.

There are a group of us that follow Newport County every week.

We go home and away as much as humanly possible.

I first started watching Newport when I was 14. They were at Somerton Park and I just fell in love with football.

It’s the whole experience of going to a football game with your friends, the bond you have.

It becomes like a family, your extended family.

I am a sponsor of the club and I supply the team with their meat for the match meals.

Wembley this year was a serious game.

My friend and I organised a coach, organised all the tickets so we could all sit together and the day was just fantastic.

There were tears because we have been there 25 years and longer. To see them back in the football league is special. When we won there was a huge party and I spent the rest of the week in a daydream.

My seven year old son Ben is my world.

My wife and I tried for children for more than 10 years. We were two weeks away from starting IVF.

We had always wanted a child. It was one of those things where we were both in mindsets that if children came along it was meant to be.

The little boy I have now is incredible. He is a star, I couldn’t wish for a better son and whether he likes it or not he is a Newport County AFC fan. When Ben was born I decided to celebrate his birth by creating a birthday sausage in his name.

It contains champagne, leek, mint, mango, redcurrant and port.

It was the National Sausage Federation’s 10th anniversary and they ran a competition to find Britain’s best birthday sausage, so I entered Ben’s birthday sausage and we won.

I used the same recipe for the Wembley sausages because they are a celebration sausage.

Before we had Ben my wife and I would spend all our money on holidays.

We went to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Hawaii, The Maldives, Dubai , Spain, Italy, and France.

I’ve lived in Cwmbran since I was 14.

There are times in the middle of January when I think I’d love to be somewhere else, but I don’t think I could live anywhere other than Wales.

The people are nice, we have some beautiful countryside, all we need is a bit of sun and then everything is brilliant.

The one thing I have learned is that you learn by going to experience different things.

My motto in life is work hard, play hard.

That is what I have done all my life.