Cambridge Goju Ryu celebrated it's second birthday today with a special three hour open course. Thank you to all those that came to support the club and a special thanks to the guest instructors Sensei George Andrews and Sensei Dave Amber.

After a quick warm up we split into two groups. Whilst the junior grades practiced a variety of self defence techniques with Sensei Dave, the black and brown belts recieved instruction on Sanchin kata from Sensei George. After a brief break Sensei George introduced the junior grades to Sanchin and the senior grades practiced basic techniques with movement and a decent amount of conditioning led by Sensei Martin.

We concluded our training as a group with makiwara training making good use of the crash mats for both punching and kicking.

Thanks again to all the participants for making this course a success.

Looking back over the years not much as changed on the Isle of Wight, it still reminds me of the early 60’s and it is a pleasure to be invited back once again to conduct a one day course with Sensei Mick Dewey 8th Dan SEKU and the coordinator Sensei Mark Elliott 5th Dan SEKU.

I travelled across by ferry which takes about 40 minutes, in this time you can witness some of the coastline and its beauty which has a long line of history. On arriving I made my way to Sensei Mark's house where I was greeted by Sensei Mike whom I have not seen for 15 years. It was quite a emotional time, we sat and talked about old times we had spent together in the past.

That evening I was invited out to dinner, I had a wonderful Fish supper then I went back to the hotel to get a good night sleep ready for training in the morning, at 9.15 – 10.30am I started with the Children I counted about 30, all were eager and ready to go.

Then it was the turn of the Adults and Cadets I counted about 35 people and after an hour of arduous warming up we split the class into groups, Sensei Mick took the kyu grades and I took the black belts and after 2 hours Sensei Mick focused on Kata and I focused on self – defence and then for the last hour I was invited to take all black belts so I focused on the Kata Tensho and Kakie (Sticky Hands) everyone was excited with this discipline.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Sensei Mark Elliott and his wife Lisa for such a lovely time.

George Andrews

On Sunday 24th July the Cambridge dojo hosted a 3 hour karate course open to all styles and grades.  The theme of the day was hojo undo (equipment training) and kakie (push hands) with self defence.  The start time was fairly early to allow everyone to make the most of the afternoon to relax.  Despite having the furthest to travel, a group from Essex and London arrived a good half hour before the class was due to start.  The chosen venue was Impington Sports Centre, a few miles to the North of Cambridge.  Situated just off the A14 it was easy to find and the training hall was large and filled with light.