Garswood Goju Ryu Academy of Karate-Do

at the Hombu DoJo

 TO

 Shodan

Tara Griffin, Sammy Eaton, Chloe Ratcliffe, Lauren Ratcliffe, Kelly Cross,  Derek Eaton, Fraser Milnes,

Tony Smith, Ron Wilson.

Ni Dan

Carl Eaton, Adele Finch, Nick Kellett.

San Dan

Joanne Field, Rob Kennedy

Friday 16th  of November we held a charity disco for child line charity held at St Andrews Mission hall,  the night was a massive success due to the friendship and generosity shown by Friends and members of Garswood GoJu Ryu Academy  of Karate-Do. The total raised was a  massive £470 this included a generous £100 donation from St Andrews church, and also prizes and donations from Arrow Financial services, thanks both to St Andrews and Arrow Financial services for their generosity . Also a massive thanks to Nick Kellett and Karl the DJ for providing the music free of charge, Thank you to everyone who gave such lovely prize donations for the raffle

3/4/5th Aug 2007 was this years Bisham Abbey Martial arts festival and celebration of 50 years of UK martial arts hosted by Sensei Terry Wingrove and Cyberbudo (log on to Cyberbudo for the fantastic photographs taken by Howie Lama). This years course was even better than last year with Sensei's from Japan, Okinawa & China, this is a must for any martial artist to see so many talented and famous masters teaching their lives work. And of course there was the evening banquet held in the banqueting hall at Bisham Abbey it's self which was a who's who of the martial arts that attended. My gratitude to Sensei Wingrove and all at Cyberbudo for organising and holding the event.

This years course at Bisham Abbey is to be held in September 2008 Don't miss out be there

Monday 17 of September  Garswood GoJu Ryu welcomed Sensei Ray Bates 5th Dan  Jui Jutsu Sensei Ray and a fellow 3rd Dan Jui Jutsu gave a fantastic demonstration of real  Jui Jutsu and we all learnt so much and seen so many similarities within the GoJu Ryu system, Sensei Bates has invited us to train at his DoJo in St Helens on Sunday mornings anyone wishing to attend contact Sensei Bewley for further information. More information regarding Sensei Bates and his teacher Sensei Ronnie Colwell can be found on the website www.ronniecolwell.org  My thanks to Sensei Bates and his fellow students for such an informative session and his friendship.

The adult class will recently have heard Sensei talking about the striking similarity between many self defence techniques taught at our club and the training of the first Royal Marine Commando unit in WW2. The self defence techniques practised in this unit were developed by Major W E Fairbairn whose book is reviewed on the Features page of this website. It may then be of interest to read the first hand account of a soldier (Major R F "Henry" Hall), who trained at the Commando unit in it's early days. The account is hosted as part of the BBC's  "Peoples War" archives and makes very interesting reading:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/38/a4544138.shtml#top