It is with great sadness that Bath Shotokan Karate club announces the passing away of Lionel Thomas, at the age of 77. Lionel was one of the club’s longest-standing members, having joined Bath Karate in 1971. He passed his Shodan in 1975 and was actively training until the early 1990s. Family and work commitments then took him away from his training, but he returned to the fold in 2012 at the age of 73! Although he was keen to train in the sessions, Lionel preferred to teach and particularly to assist in the instruction of new club members – a role he enjoyed, bringing an air of the ‘old school’ with him. He brought enthusiasm and knowledge to the classes, and will be sorely missed by the club members.

Lionel’s funeral will be at Haycombe Crematorium, Bath on Friday 1st September at 3:15 pm, followed by a  gathering at Odd Down Football Club to mingle with Lionel’s family and friends.

The latest KUGB Black and Brown belt course was held today at the University of Bath. The instructors were Sensei Andy Sherry, 9th Dan, Chief Instructor of the KUGB, assisted by Sensei Billy Higgins, 8th Dan. Bath Karate Club turned up in force – 21 members – as can be seen from the photo above.

Following the training session, a number of Bath club members took black belt gradings. Congratulations are due to our newest 2nd Dans: James Langley, and Gosia Glapiak.

And many congratulations to our newest 1st Dan black belts Ania Glapiak, Adam Winchester and Eduardo do Gama. Well done to you all from the Bath instructors!

The events calendar for 2017 is now available. The Central Region all grades sessions and kata squad starts with squad selection this Saturday, February 11th. You do not have to be a member of the squad to train on the all grades session. Please see Ron, Kieran or Rob if you want more information.

Event details do change, so please check the Events page regularly for up to date information.

The club’s final special event of the year was to celebrate our Chief Instructor, Sensei Ron Hicks’ 60th birthday, which occurs over the Christmas holiday. Ron has been an inspirational club instructor, who leads from the front, both technically and in his instruction across all grades in the club. Ron has been a member of Bath karate club for over 40 years and still approaches training and instruction with the enthusiasm of a newly minted Dan grade!

As a token of our appreciation and as a birthday present, the club’s senior instructors have had made a 3D model of Bath karate club’s logo – a vertical sai on a red background. The sai is a traditional karate weapon originating from Okinawa. Normally, sai come as a pair and can be used to strike and block in a similar fashion to how Shotokan karate’s punches and blocks are executed.

Ron’s gift features a pair of sai in a frame (only one sai is visible, the other is behind the background). Bath karate club has used a single sai as its logo since its formation in 1969. The prongs of the sai represent the three components of Shotokan karate:  kihon (fundamentals), kata (forms), and kumite (sparring).

Training has now finished for 2016 – it resumes on Thursday 5th January 2017. On behalf of all of club’s instructors, we wish our members, families and friends a peaceful and healthy Christmas, and best wishes for the New Year.

We are a very social karate club! Although we train hard, the annual Christmas party is a key fixture in the club calendar. This year saw one of the largest Christmas dinners – over thirty actively training karateka let their hair down (those that still have hair!) at Bistrot Pierre in Bath.

The food was good and the company excellent.  A brilliant way to end of a hard year of training. We also heard Sensei Ron’s annual speech, reflecting on the year’s successes – well done Gosia and James – and also looking forward to 2017.

Many thanks go to Rob for organising this year’s meal, and also acting as an impromptu waiter during dinner!

Congratulations to the club’s karateka of the year for 2016:

Competitor of the year – Gosia Glapiak

Student of the year – James Langley

Both Gosia and James have shown their commitment to training and competing over the year and are worthy recipients of this year’s awards. Well done to both of you from the club!

Today saw the latest kyu grading in the Bath-Bristol area followed by the annual children’s competition held in memory of Sensei Bill Winfield. The day was presided over by Sensei Bob Poynton, 8th Dan. There was a great turn out from all of the clubs in the area with 73 people training with Sensei Poynton and 52 people grading. There were also 22 children competing at Bills Day.

Congratulations to the following members of Bath Karate who successfully graded:

9^th Kyu: Islam Elbadawy

8^th Kyu: Momen Elbadalwy

7^th Kyu: Alex Martin, Adrien Espinasse

6^th Kyu: Nancy Richardson

5^th Kyu: Adam Mutlow, Sam Daly 5^th Kyu, Ben Hardy 5^th Kyu

3^rd Kyu: Jack Frith

2^nd Kyu: Paul Gamble

1^st Kyu, Adam Winchester

Bill’s Day Competition Results

Kumite 7^th Kyu and Below: 1^st Harry Lee; 2^nd Dylan Mateer

Kumite 6^th Kyu and Above: 1^ST Tyler Templer; 2^nd Allister Hanlon

Kata 7^th Kyu and Below: 1^st Dylan Mateer; 2^nd Quaid Bennett

Kata 6^th Kyu and Above: 1^st Archie Newbury; 2^nd Alistair Hanlon

Student of the day: Dylan Mateer

Thanks to everyone who trained, graded, competed, refereed and supported the event. Thanks also to Sensei Poynton for spending the day with us.

The club instructors wish to send their congratulations to  Rebecca and Sam who have recently got married. Rebecca has been a member of the Bath club for over 10 years and Sam joined about 18 months ago. The two of them met at school (sadly, not training at the club – that would have been a good story!) and training in karate together has been a more recent joint activity. They are currently away on honeymoon in Iceland, but as you can see from the photo below, Sam has not neglected his dedication to the art!

The club has recently moved to a new dojo at Oldfield School in Bath. The details can be found here. As you will see from the pictures, the new hall is bright and modern and air conditioned. It also has a fully mirrored wall, to give you instant feedback on how you are doing! The new dojo also has good sized changing rooms with showers.

If you haven’t been to train at Oldfield School yet, then come over soon.

Please note that as of Thursday 3rd November 2016 Bath Shotokan Karate Club is moving venue to: The Dance Studio, Oldfield School,  Kelston Road,  Bath BA1 9AB.

You will be aware that Bath Sports Centre is undergoing a major refurbishment to the building and facilities. During this time, and in order that we can train in the right atmosphere we have found a new training hall for the club. The state of the art dance studio at Oldfield School will be a high quality dojo that has a sprung wooden floor and large mirrors that will enable the club members to train and improve in an appropriate environment.

Oldfield School is to the west of Bath city centre, near the Royal United Hospital.

Our training times will remain the same:

Adults:

Mondays,  7.45pm – 9.15pm

Thursdays, 7.45pm – 9.15pm

Please call Kieran on 07818 511216 if you have any issues or questions.