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Karate History:
I first started training back in 1979 at the relatively new Taunton
Shotokan karate Club run by Norman Welch. I went to a beginners
session and watched an impressive demonstration on the stage at
Trull memorial hall and then I was hooked.
 I
found the training very hard but stuck at it taking my gradings
with Sensei Tomita. In the early eighties the club was very keen
on entering competitions and I achieved 3rd place kumite as a Kyu
Grade at the South West Championships and also had reasonable success
in the Team Kumite. I trained hard during this time going to other
clubs and attending courses at Crystal palace and other locations
training under Japanese instructors Sensei Enoeda, Tomita and Tabata
as well as English instructors Sherry, Poynton, Brennan and O'Niel
I achieved my 1st Dan in June 1983
In August 1983 my greatest achievement was to go to Japan with
fellow 1st Dan Andrew Tarrant where we travelled around honshu and
kuyshu visiting temples and Castles and of course watching the sun
rise at the top of Mount Fuji. We camped in a tent and stayed in
Hostels at places like Hiroshima, Kyoto and Tokyo where we trained
at the JKA in the foreigners class under Sensei Tanaka
In 1988 I passed my 2nd Dan
In recent years due to injury and family commitment my training
has suffered but I still enjoy training when I can at a club which
I believe has a very high standard and has produced some fine Black
belts under the excellent instruction of its founder.
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