Commonwealth Open,British & English Champions

Mats for Sale

Vito Cataldo of our Portishead club has a set of jigsaw mats for sale. Details for Vito are on our clubs page.

Pre-Dan Grading Courses

Look to the course page for a report on the courses being ran by our Chairman Dave Wheatley 7th Dan.

Kumite Training

A kumite training session is to be held at the Bristol Dojo on Sunday 26th July, it will be juniors from 10.00 - 11.30 and seniors to follow at 12.00 - 16.00. Juniors are 8 years+ seniors 16+. The course is free of charge but you must have your club instructors permission to attend.

Kata Course

June 14th a kata course was held at Gordano school, check out the course page for report and pictures.

Zagreb

A referee's report by the England Chief Referee Terry Pottage is posted on the competition page.

Saxmundham Course

Another year has gone and we have the Saxmundham course on the news again, download the information here.

WKU nationals*** Pictures now added***

Well what can we say? Over 32 clubs entered, no significant injuries due to the large contingent of English/British and European officials taking great control of the areas. With over 400 individual entries, we ran over by 30 minutes, not a great sin after some of the fiasco's many of us have attended. Perhaps the EKF could learn a thing or two, look after officials, they look after your events, the right people win, there are less problems and you have happy coaches, happy competitors and a very successful day. Many thanks to those clubs who supported us, we have asked for years to run a regional but it always falls on deaf ears. The West of England has a lot to offer, your support has proven this and it goes from strength to strength. We look forward to seeing the clubs, and the officials at our next event. I shall write a full report on the competition page and add a link to any photo's that are sent through.

Latest News

Scottish Open

Latest news, Paul James of Broadwell Karate Club takes a silver in kumite.

Guess Who Has His Bus Pass?

Catch up on our competition page for the latest from the English Nationals held at Sheffield recently, again WKU take the top prizes.

Lots of new dates to check out on the calendar page, there are new kata courses in Colchester and the annual weekend camping date has been set.

East Coast Madness

Russell Hawkes 2nd Dan, Jim Smith 2nd Dan and Darren Graham 1st Dan after competing in a "Tough Guy" challenge. I hope they were made to wash their own clothes after! A full report will be posted as soon as they get the mud off of themselves.

More pictures going on the link from the last Dan grading, also course pictures from Colchester and the recent Dutch open.

Christmas Madness

I don't know what is in the water at Brightlingsea!

I have asked for a report on what was a very successful ladies kumite course held recently at the Bristol Dojo, there is also a raft of pictures sent to me by Steve Carpenter from the Downend & Mangotsfield club, follow the link to view them. As Steve has done please forward pictures that you wish to have posted on the web.

Look under the competition page and see how hard our referee's have to work to achieve their European status!

WKU Course

Due to the inclement weather the course on the 8th February has had to be cancelled.

Dan Grading

At our recent Dan grading Hannah Carpenter from Downend & Mangotsfield Karate Club attained her Shodan grade, Stephen Carpenter her instructor gained his Nidan along with Martyn Holman (Brightlingsea), Jason Burgess (Brightlingsea)and Stephen LeFevre (Clevedon), Dean Moyes (Colchester) gained his Sandan. Pictures are now on the site, everyone is a few months older but I have at last sorted them out.

Click here for pictures

Sorry for the delay in updating the site, I have been having withdrawal symptoms without my PC. There are many things to now add, I shall endeavor to catch up ASAP.

Letter from Andy Gunton

W.K.U. Another year, still growing & learning

Welcome to all new members and instructors, you have made a wise choice in joining the WKU; no doubt you have given it a lot of thought as to what is best for you and your students.

Problems this year have been controlled and any restrictions imposed have been adhered to and acknowledged.

Two clubs have been formed from the demise of Bristol Karate Shotokan; both are now settling nicely and are moving unrestrictedly in the direction they have chosen. Situations have arisen beyond anyone’s control, dealing with these quickly and efficiently are what counts.

Competition wise the results speak for themselves, the kumite squad is a unit, both juniors and seniors have bonded, there are no individual stars, they are a team. In saying this, the obvious cannot also be ignored; Paul James who was told by his previous instructor that he would never make a fighter, now he is Commonwealth Open Champion. Shaun Langson, team gold, Torsha gold, Sarah Clark gold, David McLeod and Andrew Kelliher still winning English and British titles and places in their respective categories. The World Championships saw Sarah Clark, Darren Haynes and Rory Daniels all from what is relatively a small association not governed by the need for money, representing their country, these people had been on top form for a long time, again with help from their fellow squad members. I thank you and the WKU thanks you as to stay at that level requires a lot of dedication.

The kata squad, referee’s and judges along with the table officials have all moved forward with new levels being attained, though as with all sections of the WKU, more people are required to come forward and become table officials and judges, please do not forget, without replenishment to all sections, it stops and dies.

Many thanks to Les, his fellow instructors and their students for keeping the WKU flag flying in their part of the country, the same thanks go to the Jersey WKU club. Special thanks to the executive members who attend meetings on a regular basis, make decisions and then stand by them, all in the interest of the WKU. Certain people stand out from the crowd for many years of hard work, certainly not all in the dojo. Ivor Thomas on attaining his European Referee qualification, Dave Wheatley, Alan Flook, Wendy and Kevin along with Maxine Baker our CPO.

Another year lies in wait, who knows what direction it is going to take but the WKU will do it’s upmost to remain an association that can adapt to change because issues will always arise at club and association levels.

If I have forgotten to mention anyone or any event, there have been so many, then I apologise. “Don’t talk about me, talk to me!”

Andy Gunton
6th Dan

Jersey 2008

There is now a report about our course in Jersey on the "course" page, this the retirement bash of their chief instructor Liam Ahearne. Many hundreds of pictures have been taken and I will endeavor to edit and post them as they arrive. On a personal note Ann and myself thank Liam and Joan for the fifteen years we have known each other and look forward to them visiting us in Clevedon and our trips over the water to test the local Guinness out.

PTKA Competition

Check out our competition page for the results of our newest clubs competition.

British Championships

Lots of medals again for the WKU, a report will be on the competition page as soon as it arrives.

Latest updates on Course Page

For our latest news have a look at the course page, where there is an update of the recent Mercia weekend and Portishead's grading news.

New Members in Portishead

The WKU welcomes a new club in Portishead, Vito Cataldo has trained with many of us over the last 25 years. P.T.K.A. Train at the Methodist Church Hall in the High Street, contact numbers will be posted on the clubs page.

Squad Training

Check out the latest news on the courses page for the results of the last squad session and future training events.

A Blast From The Past

On a recent referee course we managed to get Julian into a Gi, the picture had to be taken as proof of evidence.

60th Birthday Arrives

All at the WKU wish Les Birkin a very happy 60th, time for the bus pass and free prescriptions, I await a report but here is a picture of him receiving a present from his clubs.

Mersea Training Course

There is a weekend training and grading course being held at Waldegrave Holiday Camp on the 30th & 31st August. Click on the link for details.

Summer Course & Dan Grading

I shall write a full report on the course page but as the weekend draws to an end there are many happy but aching students going home across the country. Thanks to all for their support over the weekend, the weather Gods were kind to us on Saturday.

Selections for World Championships in Tokyo

The hot news today is that at the selections in Bisham Abbey Sarah Clark was selected to represent England in the -53kg division at the world championships in Tokyo later this year. Sarah will also be a member of the ladies team. Rory Daniels proved yet again what a valuable member of the squad he is, he has been selected for the men's open weight and also the team. Darren Haynes has made a well deserved return to the national squad with his selection to the team. Three WKU members going to Japan to represent England must be classed as a great success story and bears Testament to the standard that is prevalent within the association, I just hope Rory or Darren has a kit bag big enough to fit me in! Paul James and Shaun Langson also acquitted themselves very well, both having won a fight, drawn another and lost the last one. Great news for all of the squad and for our own WKU coaches.

Front Page News

Latest Competition news

See our competition pages for the latest news from Birmingham.

European Promotion

Congratulations to Ivor Thomas on his promotion to "A" class judge at the recent Europeans, Ivor was the only English promotion in the group attempting kumite advancement.

Take note selectors, the WKU are clearing up in Edinburgh, a full report is on our competition page, there is also a link to many photographs but please keep sending in more to me.

Jersey April visit

The Jersey club invited Kevin & Ann Barrett over for a week to run a couple of training sessions, a report on these is on the "course" page.

April Fundraising

Sunday 20th April was the date set for our kyu grade fund raising event, look to our competition page for a full report on the event.
Further to the fundraising we have had a very generous donation from Samba Consulting an "IT" company, Mr Simon Bunker a student at the Clevedon club has donated a large amount towards the expenses for Edinburgh, this along with donations from Bristol Builders and Hudson Engineering of Nailsea has put us a long way towards our target. Many thanks to all of these companies for their support, I shall see if they have web sites and add links from our site.

English Nationals

Good results from the first EKF nationals, a full reports on the competition page to follow, and another English qualified referee for the WKU.

Bristol Summer Course

The date is set, July 5th at The Old Reds as always, the summer sun will be with us, it has been arranged. Cost for this course are £5.00 for juniors and £10.00 for seniors, very good value. Don't forget to bring food and lots of cold drink to help keep you going.

Bristol Builders Supplies

We are grateful to Bristol Builder Supplies for their very generous donation to help in sending our squad to the Commonwealth games. Bristol Builders are situated at Unit 3, Barton Hill Trading Estate, Herapath Street, Bristol, BS5 9RD, if you need supplies, make sure you check them out as your first port of call.

Competition Results

Look into our competition page for the latest results of the competition held at Brierly Hill on the 24th February, great results for our WKU members.

Fundraising Event

Many of you will not know but this years Commonwealth Games being held in Edinburgh are now open to associations. The WKU have always had a very strong kumite squad and also a few coming through on the kata squad. It is hoped to send a squad to the games and although they are all willing to self fund for the event, we as an association would like to try to raise some funds to help with the expenses. To this end we are going to have a small Kyu grade competition for our clubs at the Bristol dojo on the 20th April. At this moment it is felt it will be a junior event for under 16 year olds. If anyone out there has any bright ideas on gaining some sponsorship, please let us know, maybe your company would like to buy the medals for the competition or sponsor in any other way!

WKU Course at Emersons Green

Check out our "Courses" page for the latest event held at Emersons Green, lots of pictures from the day also.

Esporta club

Here are a couple of pictures of our club who train at the Esporta Health club in Bradley Stoke, near Bristol.

Our first session runs from 10.00 - 11.00 on Saturday mornings, it was a culture shock having to be there at 09.00 so we managed to start an hour later, thus students and instructors are sometimes a little more awake.

The second session 11.00 - 12.00 is for our younger and lower grade members, break them in gently, though I am ready for a strong cup of tea afterwards! The support is good and we are steadily growing in numbers.

Jersey Course 2nd Oct - 6th Oct

Liam's retirement course is nearly on us, he will be leaving the island to go back to Ireland, lets make this a course to remember!

Christmas at Brightlingsea

Happy faces looking forward to the big day, maybe a few looking forward to a week or two of rest!

Dan Grading November 18th

The Christmas Dan grading was held at the Bristol dojo recently. To start the session there was an hour long warm up, this was open to all brown belts and above and was well attended. During the training period instructors were changed around, thus giving each group a chance to learn different ideas from across the country. Fifteen students were up for the grading of whom eight were to later pass.
Promoted to Sandan & Shodan,

I have asked for pictures to be forwarded, as soon as I receive some I shall make a link for them to be displayed.

See our course page for a kata course and officials course held recently at the Clevedon dojo.

England Call Up

Sarah Clark has been selected to join the england squad who are off to Istanbul, Turkey for the Junior World Championships. Sarah will be fighting in both the team and individual events. As the new governing body has only just been formed, there is no money in the kitty, Sarah has to "self fund" for this event, the WKU are helping and so are a few clubs in the area, if you or your club can also help please contact Wendy White our secretary, any donation will be gratefully received as she has to pay air fare, hotel and even the competition entrance fee herself.

Jersey Course

A report has been written, just confirming everything and having my grammar checked! I have about 300 pictures to edit, some will be up very shortly. Many thanks to all those people on the island who gave their time to make this yet another very successful weekend. A full report and the link to the photographs will be found on the "Course" page.

Mersea Course

Latest news coming from the Mersea course held on 02/09/07, a full report will be posted soon, it might also explain some of the strange going's on in that part of the country!

Summer Dan Grading 2007

It seems I have slipped up here, a report was put out and lots of pictures of the course but nothing of the grading, anyone out there with pictures please send them in to me, I shall get onto a report ASAP.

WKU Beach Fun Day Sunday 5th August 2007

*** More pictures added 16/08/07***

We had lots of Sun and Fun down on the Beach in Weston-super-Mare.

The rain storms throughout July and August obviously had people doubting that this event would go ahead, but it did, and it was a great day.  No rain, just sunshine.

There were over 50 students training with over 100 for the barbecue, well down on previous years, probably because of the fear of bad weather, but nonetheless a good crowd and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. 

Clubs supporting the event were Bristol, Oldmixon & Uphill, Clevedon, Broadwell, Nintai Ronin and Patchway. 

For the training the instructors were Alan, Dave, Andy, Ivor and Nigel, who between them put the students through their paces followed by various kumite and self-defence techniques.

For the barbecue the burger chefs were Gary for the carnivores and Darren for the vegetarians (and he even managed to rope his Mum in!).  They all did a wonderful job throughout, although the burgers ran out at one stage but a quick dash to the local supermarket put us back on track once more and everyone was fed to the usual good standard without waiting around too long.  

Jackie, Laura and Kam organised the catering marquee ably assisted by Sarah, Scarlett and James.  The side salads and pasta/rice dishes proved very popular with the tuna pasta, potato salad, curried rice and vegetable pasta bowls all being polished off well before the end, and it doesn't matter how many cherry tomatoes I buy they all vanish in minutes.

After the barbecue was over Martin and Mark organised a game of family friendly rounder's for anyone who had a little energy left.  They were enjoying themselves so much they refused to stop for the raffle!  The photo's tell the rest. 

Our official photographer Jill was there to take some snaps for the website and our raffle queen Sarah with assistants James and Sam did the usual good job by hassling everyone out of the contents of their purses and wallets!. 

Thanks to the usual crew for turning up early and staying all day until the last box had been packed away.  You work so hard and I am so very grateful.

Another great day.

Wendy

Referee Course & Squad Training

Sunday 22nd July saw us at the Bristol Dojo again, we started the day with a referee and table official course, a few new faces were made welcome. Shane Balmer 5th Dan and chairman of the Rokakai Karate Association paid a visit with Brian Holland 3rd Dan the team coach and some young members. Alan and Andy gave a training session which was followed by a small competition, this was well supported, I think all clubs took home a medal or two.

Summer Course & Grading

Check out our course page for the latest update on this years summer course with links to lots of pictures of the course and the Dan grading.

Results from the regionals

Check out our competition page for the latest results, a great day for WKU.

W.K.U. Open 6th May 07

Look to our "Galleries" page for hundreds of pictures of our latest competition. Many thanks to Jill Adams for all of her work in getting this album onto the web so speedily, a report will follow shortly.

WKU Beach Fun Day – Sunday 6th August 2006

Another good day in Weston-super-Mare – goes without saying really!

The rain storms at the beginning of the week had me a little concerned but I need not have worried because, as always, the weather was kind to us on the day.

There were 70 students training with 140 for the barbecue, a little down on last year but nonetheless a good crowd. The burger chefs did a wonderful job considering the wind was hampering things a little more than normal and everyone was fed and watered to the usual good standard with side salads and pasta/rice dishes made up of numerous different concoctions thought up by some ever helpful Oldmixon members (Kam, James and Jo). For all those wishing to know the recipe of my coleslaw it is very simple - white cabbage, carrots, onions and mayonnaise. There are no secret ingredients so I don’t know what all the fuss is about unless it’s the silver spoon I stir it with that gives it a special flavour!

Instructors were Alan, Chucky, Max, Kevin, Nigel, Darren, Quin and Gary who between them put the students through their paces followed by various kumite and self-defence techniques.

Jackie reigned supreme in the catering marquee ably assisted by Kam (who had previously spent two hours raking the sand for the training only to find them move the area to something a little firmer this year – sorry Kam!), Ann, Pauline, Erica, Scarlett, Andy (yes, Andy), Sarah, Quin, Debbie, and probably several others who I’ve missed off. The main BBQs were manned by Kim and Kevin Jones with a little assistance from Dennis, with Kevin and Nigel adorning the Veggie section assisted by Brian. Our official photographer Jill was there to take some snaps for the website and our raffle queen Sarah did her usual good job by hassling everyone into submission.

Darren did his bit also although he could have done without his wife Kelly throwing the car keys away with all the rubbish, leftover food ‘n all – yuk!

Clubs supporting the event were Bristol, Bristol Shotokan, Broadwell, Clevedon, Esporta, Kenkyukai, Nintai Ronin and Oldmixon & Uphill.

You are a great bunch to work with and I thank you all for your support and usual good humour. I would like to make special mention to Kam Govind who cooked up pasta dishes beforehand, turned up early to help set everything up, raked the sand for two hours with her son James, helped prepare the fresh salads, cooked some of the sausages, helped serve out the food, clean up, pack up, get the marquee down and then tidied the leftover rubbish off the beach. Bet she slept well on Sunday night!

Wendy

Many thanks to Jill Adams for editing and adding so many pictures in such a short time, click the link below to see them.

Beach BBQ Pictures

British Youth Championships Sheffield

June 10th & 11th on a hot weekend we were all melting in Sheffield. We came home with two medals, a bronze for Jenny May in the girls 8-9 kata and a silver for Chelsie Ware in her kumite event. I will ask Alan and Wendy for a full report, pictures will also be available with a link from the competition page shortly.