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Steve & Sally Woolston
 Sensei's Steve and Sally Woolston commenced their training in 1994, at the relatively late age of 26.
Initially, this training was in the Shotokan style of karate and, in the short time that they were studying this style, they were lucky enough to train with Master Hirokazu Kanazawa on one of his many seminars in London. This encouraged them to venture out of their dojo and train with other instructors as often as possible.
While they were on one such seminar they were fortunate enough to hear of an instructor visiting from Ireland who was presenting a course on 'An Introduction to Shorinryu', with the emphasis on effective and close range karate. The instructor was Sensei Patrick Beaumont (7th Dan - Matsubayashi Ryu, Beaumont-ha) and after attending his seminar, forged a strong relationship with him and his students.
Mr Beaumont turned out to be a hugely positive inspiration to their training and went on to introduce them to Hanshi Philip Koeppel of the United States Karate-Do Kai. They were lucky to train with Hanshi Koeppel twice in the UK and followed him over to Ireland to train with him in Sensei Beaumont's dojo. Finally, after one of many visits to Ireland, they decided that Shorinryu was the path they wanted to follow and they asked Sensei Beaumont if he would accept them as his students.
Their transition from Shotokan to Shorinryu proved to be an exciting and refreshing journey, opening up many new aspects to their training - these have included travelling to the United States each year for the past 6 years, and being able to meet and train with karate masters such as Takayoshi Nagamine Soke, Major Bill Hayes Kyoshi, Major Doug Perry Kyoshi and Vince Morris Sensei. They have also competed regularly in the annual USKK International Championships in Peoria Illinois and in 2003 proudly became 'life members' of the USKK.
The Woolston family has grown in numbers with the arrival of Harry in 2004 and Arthur in 2006. So here's hoping that the kids will continue with the running of the dojo in the years to come.
Unfortunately, on a sadder note, Sally's father, who was a long standing and well known supporter of the club (which included travelling to all the USKK tournaments, and America in 2004) died in 2005 after a short but hard fought battle with cancer aged just 64. He was well-loved by many people and will be hugely missed.
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