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The Club
The club's instructors, Steve and Sally Woolston, initially began their training in Shotokan. After meeting and training with Hanshi Phillip Koeppel (of the 'United States Karate-do Kai') and Sensei Patrick Beaumont (of the 'Shorin Ryu Karate Association of Ireland) however, they took steps to change styles and now practise Shorinryu. Furthermore, Sensei Beaumont has since become the clubs' Chief Instructor.
The  students are all members of the USKK (Europe), of which Sensei Beaumont is the Director. This is the European branch of Hanshi Koeppel's association - 'United States Karate-Do Kai', and the clubs instructors, Sensei's Steve and Sally Woolston, are now proud to be 'life' members of the group.
The Shorinryu that we practice is firmly centred around 'effective' and 'realistic' karate, rather than the 'competition-based' karate that other clubs often tend to lean towards and we are one of very few clubs practising this particular style within the UK.
We have around 25 members (although you never actually see them all together at any one time!!!), with a good range of ages from the youngest being just 5 years old and with grades from white belt to black belt.
Although the club does not consider itself heavily 'competition orientated', they have attended a couple of tournaments (and have been very successful) in preparation for the one event they always attend - the Annual USKK(E) competition. This tournament and seminar weekend, which has been very well supported every year since the first one in 2001, attracts a number of well-respected karateka from England, Ireland and the USA.
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