A BUTCHER gave his business the chop to retrain as a pharmacist.

And after years of study Yusuf Seedat, 44, from Blackburn, has graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in the first group of pharmacy students.

He has now started his role as a pre-registered pharmacist in Burnley, seven years after selling his butchery business in Zambia and moving to the UK with his British wife.

The 44-year-old, who has juggled his studies with bringing up six children aged three to 18, said he felt very proud to have reached his goal.

Mr Seedat said: “I had tears at my graduation ceremony.

“It was a very proud moment and the culmination of several years’ hard work.

“When we moved to Blackburn in 2004 I got a job as a pharmacy assistant, which prompted my interest in the profession and led to where I am today. It’s been quite a journey.”

Yusuf was encouraged by the pharmacist he worked for to pursue his studies with NVQ qualifications.

He then went on to study a science access course at Preston College, before enrolling as one of the UCLan’s first pharmacy students at the age of 40.

He said: “My friends in Zambia can’t believe I’ve made such a dramatic career change, they think I’m crazy.

“But we received a lot of support from our tutors and had access to fantastic resources so as long as I was willing to put in the work, it was always an achievable goal.”

Yusuf admitted that studying around six children wasn’t easy but said that his family had been supportive.

He said: “They understood that their dad was working hard and we had to share the computer.

"We may have had one or two arguments when they wanted to play games, but otherwise they were brilliant.”

Yusuf will spend the next year as a pre-registered pharmacist and then take the exam to become a fully practising pharmacist.

More than 30 students graduated from the MPharm degree course at UCLan.