Hartland Aikido Club, North Devon - new class schedule

The Hartland Aikido Club in North Devon is now practising twice weekly in Bucks Cross - a picturesque village close to the sea, mid-way between Bideford and Bude. If you are on holiday in Devon please feel free to join us! More information on the Hartland Aikido blog: http://hartlandaikido.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/bucks-cross-aikido-between-bideford-and.html

New BKAA dojo - Tottenham

David Findley has started another new BKAA dojo in Tottenham.

Tottenham Community Sports Centre,
701-703 High Road,
Tottenham,
London,
Haringey,
N17 8AD
Tel: 020 -8801-6401

Fridays at 5.30pm till 7pm

Nearest overground station  "White Hart Lane" (5 mins walking)
Nearest underground station  "Seven Sisters station, Victoria Line " (10 mins  on 149/259 bus)

Swindon Meeting and Recent Gradings

Thanks to all who attended the BKAA day out in Swindon, it was an enjoyable day and good to meet others from around the Association.

During the day two Swindon members graded to 5th Kyu, Yellow belt.

• Lewis Kidd
• Stephen Reuse

Well done to you both for performing under the added pressure of the bigger audience.

Additional gradings that I have omitted from last year.

Congratulations go to the following members of the Orpington dojo:

• Ultan McCarthy - 2nd Kyu - Blue belt
• Richard Georgiades - 3rd Kyu - Green belt
• David Westlake - 4th Kyu - Orange belt

Thanks again to all who made the Swindon meeting a success, during the coming months I will look into other venues to allow more to attend. Could you reply if a whole weekend would be better for these events?

Hartland Aikido Club

Huw Collingbourne has started a new BKAA dojo in North Devon.


He was practicing with the BKAA many years ago with Eileen and Maurice and has returned to us.


The start date for the Hartland Aikido Club is this week on March 15th. 


The venue will be the Bucks Cross Village Hall, between Bideford and Hartland.


Thereafter, he'll be practising regularly on Thursdays between 7- 9 pm.

BKAA Meeting - Swindon dojo - 11th March 2012

To allow some of the BKAA Orpington members to grade to 3rd Dan

The hall has been booked at Swindon dojo

on Sunday 11th March 2012

at 10am - 4pm

at

Haydon Centre,

Thames Avenue,

Haydon Wick,

Swindon, Wiltshire,

SN25 1QQ

The day will be filled with more Aikido for all levels

Please come along and meet others in the BKAA

New BKAA dojo in Grantown on Spey

Just to let all BKAA members know, Jill and James Oni-Orisan are starting a new BKAA dojo in Scotland after their move last year.


Lessons commence on Wednesday 11th January, then also on Saturday's in Grantown on Spey.


After Easter break this will extend to Kingussie Sports Centre, and then after the summer another in Aviemore Sports Centre.  


Jill and James are running it along the same lines as Colchester Dojo, employed by the sports centres.  


A great start to the New Year for them both and the BKAA.  

Martin Wilkins - 2nd Dan

Happy Christmas and New Year for 2012 to all in the BKAA

Just to finish 2011 on an very positive note

Martin Wilkins - Swindon dojo
  achieved 2nd Dan on Monday 19th December.

Congratulations go to Martin in this accomplishment.

Gradings at Bristol - December 2011

I would like to congratulate Hanna and Pete Lord on achieving their 1st Kyu brown belts at Bristol dojo last night.

Along with them, Simon Daniel also became a 5th Kyu, yellow belt and started his path in Aikido.

Well done to them all and best wishes to the BKAA members as we start the festive season.

We will try to arrange further BKAA meetings in the early New Year.

New Members and Gradings

Other things in life have taken my focus away from updating this Blog.

However there have been a few new members over the past months, these include:

Bournemouth
Gary Ward
Dan Trathen
Russell Phillips

Swindon
Lewis Kidd
Steve Rowse

Selby
Andrew Simpson

As always if I have missed anybody, let me know and I will amend

Megan Emms achieved her 5th Kyu Yellow belt in Swindon also.

Swindon BKAA Meeting

Just to let all know Derek has booked the Swindon hall for:

Saturday 8th October
10am - 4 pm

Venue address
  Haydon Wick Community Centre
  Swindon
  SN25 1QQ

All BKAA members are welcome, guests will require their own insurance.

An agenda will be planned closer to the time.

BKAA get together in Swindon

Thanks to those that attended today, I enojyed the day and am  sure others did too.

Betsy has added her pictures to a web folder in Picasa

I will add more as they filter through.

BKAA Seminar in Swindon

I have been in contact with David Currie and due to work commitments he is unable to attend the seminar in Swindon this October.

We looked at alternative dates, although unfortunately diaries cannot be committed.

Therefore this time the BKAA meeting will continue, although I will look for alternate instructor and themes.

If you are attending, could you start to indicate numbers, as I will consider whether to run both Saturday and Sunday or single day only again.

Update on recent Gradings and New Members

As I have not completed this for a couple of months. As usual if I have missed anybody, let me know and I will amend.


Couple of additions


New member
Mike Lister - Bournemouth


Gradings - All Bournemouth
Anne Delaney - 5th Kyu
Dennis Delaney - 5th Kyu
Tomasz Rak -  4th Kyu


First I would like to welcome the following new members to the BKAA


Tommy McGregor-Smith - Selby
Matt Swift - Bournemouth




Quite a few gradings have come through to me over the last few months at all levels of the syllabus.


Joseph Leader - 2nd Dan - Finsbury
Adrian Bain - 1st Dan - Finsbury

Andy Turner - 1st Kyu - Malvern

Pete Lord - 2nd Kyu - Bristol

Hanna Lord - 2nd Kyu - Bristol
Steve Roe - 4th Kyu - Malvern
Mark Gibson - 4th Kyu - Malvern
Tomasz Rak - 4th Kyu - Bournemouth
Slawomir Jaloszynski - 5th Kyu - Finsbury


Club Sensei: If you have any gradings that you wish to acknowledge I can open the blog to you and all are welcome to edit and add comments, please ask if you want to add more local club news.

Finsbury Mats need new home

Gone to Orpington dojo, thanks Mike for collecting and making use of the mats.


If anybody has need of some mats for their Aikido practice can you contact Philippe at Finsbury asap.


He has the Finsbury mats in urgent need of finding a home, or somebody who has somewhere to store them


Any takers, this is required asap, as the Finsbury dojo (sports centre) is being refurbished and therefore will be closed until later this year.


Please contact either me or Philippe asap or comment on this blog with your contact details. Thanks

New members and grading update

I would like to welcome.the following members to the BKAA


Paul Kent-Smith - Bournemouth
James Gomm - Colchester
Richard Ward - Selby


To congratulate and recognise the progression through the grades, I would like to let all know of the following:


Ricardo Falchi -  5th Kyu - Finsbury
Ruben Kempenaar - 5th Kyu - Finsbury
Betsy Hayward - 5th Kyu - Bristol
Tony Bromiley - 5th Kyu- Bristol


If I have missed anyone, let me know and I will update


Also you will see to the side of this that I have added a poll for the next BKAA seminar, to make it more central for all dojos, the choices are:

• Sports centre in Milton Keynes
• Swindon dojo
• Judo centre in High Wycombe. 

Please could you make a choice and then I can arrange booking and set the date for your diaries.

BKAA Seminar - Saturday 13th March

Just to let everyone know that the BKAA Seminar in March is going to be a single day's event now.


As this is now only one day, David Currie will not be attending or instructing this time, and will attend the seminar later in the year.


I have asked the BKAA dojo instructors to give an hours tuition each, to give some variety and insight of different areas of Aikido to the day.


Please comment, if there are any specific areas you would like to learn.


The seminars are for the BKAA to get together as an organisation and share an Aikido experience.


From the polls that were carried out ~30 people replied for attending on the Saturday, and only 10 staying for the Sunday morning, therefore the reason for moving to a single day event.


I have been looking around for alternate and more central venues for later in the year and will let all know what is available in the coming weeks. I have found a venue in Milton Keynes, which is central to everyone and unless there is a concert on at the Bowl a non-descript place, apologies for anyone who lives or comes from there :o)

BKAA Seminars - please feedback

I have asked around for feedback from the BKAA Sensei and thought I'd share some of the comments and thoughts. If you could comment to this blog then I would appreciated the feedback.

My goal is to make the BKAA Seminars accessible to more of the BKAA Membership. And of course ensure that the day or days are attractive to you in their content.

Some of the comments and ideas that have been given are:

• Alternate Venues
• Reduce accommodation costs
• Length of each session
• Concentration span
• Move session to Friday evening from Sunday
• Weapons session
• Advanced class
• Social Event
• One day event
• Less Seminars per year

Some of the comments that I have extracted are below:

Generally, when people have done the full weekend, they start to run out of steam around lunchtime on the Sunday, and they still have to travel back as well. I think the Sunday should be  a few hours at most. Also, if a one day event becomes the best way forward, we still need to be careful that it is not too long. Anything over 4hrs becomes a chore for people.

Two factors dictating members' decisions to leave on the Sunday

• Exhaustion
• Time (travel, recovery or commitments on the following morning). 

It would be nice to have something different thrown in; may attract more people for the Sunday.

With the possibility of moving to Friday evening session.

There seems to be a lot more energy and enthusiasm on a Friday night (psychologically speaking). 

Bath is one of the more expensive places to stay. 

Worthwhile checking out B&Bs in the area, to get an idea of costs

Bath dojo is great in terms of the quality of mat, and size is great.

Bath is an outstanding venue, but barring a particular gathering or event there is a real diaspora following the training sessions. Ramsgate/Broadstairs the general nothiningness of the area meant that BKAA members were more likely to club together to do something. When something specific is organised members tend to feel more of an obligation to be there.

Less seminars (say not more than one a year) - if you only get one bite of the cake in a year, you tend to make a greater effort to be there. The more seminars, the more one takes them for granted.

Realistically in light of the amount of actual teaching/training that takes place, the seminars are as much about the social aspects of the BKAA as the learning (if not more so). 

I realise that all have to travel significant distances to attend the seminars and am looking into options that are available. I will look into local accommodation, mat availability and centrality of location.

I will keep you all posted through this, although please add your comments

2009 Gradings

To let all BKAA members know how people throughout the Association are progressing I will begin adding gradings as I see them come through, however to get those that I have recieved in 2009, here is a list, if there are omissions let me know and I will correct accordingly.

In 2010, I will also start adding New Members as they come in. Currently the Association is about 100 members in total and dojos are listed on the BKAA website

Gradings for 2009

January

Mark Reinisch - Finsbury - 2nd Dan

March

Karl Sherman - Selby - 4th Kyu
David Findley - Finsbury - 2nd Dan
David Shryane - Finsbury - 2nd Dan
Oleg Lideikis - Finsbury - 1st Dan

April

Malvern

Chris Walker - 5th kyu

Andy Turner - 2nd kyu

Steve Roe - 5th kyu

Edwin Helder - 5th kyu

Mark Gibson - 5th kyu

Martin Allbright - 5th kyu

May

Adrian Ward - Selby - 1st kyu

Andrew Smith - Selby - 1st kyu

July

Paul Castle - Selby - 1st Dan
Duncan Goodall - Colchester - 3rd Dan
Lloyd North - Colchester - 3rd Dan
Justin Cowley - Colchester - 3rd Dan
Andrew Adams - Colchester - 3rd Dan

August

Dug Wolfsohn - Swindon - 2nd kyu

Alison Osborn - Swindon - 1st kyu

Tomasz Raz - Bournemouth - 5th kyu

Luke Marsh - Bournemouth - 5th kyu

Tangy Nethercott - Bournemouth - 1st Dan

September

Nigel Hughes - Orpington - 5th kyu

Adam Hughes - Orpington - 5th kyu

Ultan McCarthy - Orpington - 5th kyu

Slawek Jaloszynski - Finsbury - 5th kyu

Geoffrey Leader - Finsbury - 3rd Dan

Zoe Reeves - Bristol - 4th kyu

October

Jonathan Wilton - Bournemouth - 5th kyu

Simon Jeffery - Bournemouth - 5th kyu

December

Simon Grimes - Orpington - 1st Dan

Andy Brown - Bournemouth - 3rd kyu

Hopefully I have listed all those that have graded in 2009 and I wish you all an enjoyable 2010.

Hope to see many of you at the BKAA Seminars in Bath in March and October.

Swindon dojo are holding an afternoon event on Saturday 23rd January from 1-4pm and all BKAA members are welcome. Please visit either the BKAA or Swindon website for address.

BKAA Newsletter

Welcome to the First BKAA Newsletter

The British Ki Aikido Assocation (BKAA) is a martial arts group that practices in dojos throughout the UK and holds regular seminars in the Spring and Autumn to get all together.

Going into the new decade and 2010 I will be bringing news of events and members grading successes to this blog.

In the next few days I will also run through all the gradings that have taken place in 2009 and list those members who have achieved advancement in Aikido in the last year.

A couple of dates to remember for 2010 are for the BKAA Seminars at the University of Bath.

• Saturday 13th March 2010 11.30am-5.30pm
• Sunday 14th March 2010 10.30am-1.30pm
• Saturday 9th October 2010 11.30am-5.30pm
• Sunday 10th October 2010 10.30am-1.30pm

I will update with possible changes of times and details of the proposed agendas asap.