Templegate Dojo

Thanks to everyone who came along and everyone who helped organise and set things up to prepare for the day. Thanks to Mike for a great open course running parallel to the gradings to make sure that grading or not there was plenty to be enjoying!

The gradings ticked along reasonably well as far as organisation went and whilst there are some refinements we can look at but overall the weekend was a good event. If you've any feedback regarding the weekend format etc, please feel free to let us know on the forum and we'll see what we can do for next time.

The results of the grading are as follows:

6th Kyu
Jacob Kimber, Marcus Lim, Louise Gardner, Adam Hills, Nadim Narimani, Geoff Buckland

5th Kyu
Reg Pratley, Mikiko Lovering, Gary Dark

4th Kyu
Stuart Turner,Dave Fry, Dale Harris, Lee Howells, Andy Harrison, Morgan Kidd,Ken King

3rd Kyu
Steffi Otto, Karl Durrant, Laurence Gray

2nd Kyu
Chris Hardwell, Amanda Weaver

1st Kyu
Fiona Gill, Carla Benjamin, Aff Robley, Struan Healey-Brown

1st Scroll - Weapons grading
Jess Bromley, Karl Durrant, Morgan Kidd, Stuart Turner, Gary Dark

Congratulations to everyone who graded, hopefully you enjoyed the day and look forward to seeing you on the mat again soon!

On 9th/10th May will be a kyu grading weekend alongside an open course. If you wish to grade, please discuss it with your instructor and get a grading application form handed in before the day, this really helps with the organisation of the day.

Times will be 14:00-17:00 Saturday and 10:00-13:00 Sunday, please come along in advance and lend a hand sweeping the mats and making sure the dojo is clean and tidy before we begin.

Whether you're planning on grading or not please come along to the open course and take part, the cost will be £15 for the weekend.

We hope to see you all there!

There will be an open course taught by Sensei Bernard Harding (6th Dan) to be held over the weekend of 23rd and 24th May 2009.

The course will be held at Morganstown Village Hall (Heol Syr Lewis, Cardiff, CF15 8LE).

Saturday 23rd May 2pm - 5pm

Sunday 24th May 10am - 2pm

Course price: £10 per day

Please note that due to the limited number of places available booking is required. There is a £10 deposit required on booking and spaces will be allocated on a first come first served basis. To reserve a place please contact the club secretary Richard Belcher. Deposits can be paid by cheque, or internet banking. Please give a payment preference on booking and details will be confirmed.

There will be a meal arranged for the Saturday night. Details TBC. Please indicate when booking if you are thinking of going.

Please bring your membership books with you and proof of insurance.

See the Cardiff Dojo website for full details (www.aikidocardiff.org.uk)

Booking for the 2009 NAF Summer School is now available from the NAF ordering page.

As a week comprising of much training, socialising and other activities such as swimming etc. it is an ideal opportunity to not only push your Aikido training forwards but also to make and maintain the connections we have as an organisation and as individuals.

I'm confident anyone who has already been will tell you; the training is enjoyable, there is lots of food and the pub visits social activities are not to be missed! If you've been before I'm sure I don't need to twist your arm to come again - if you haven't then we hope you'll take the opportunity to come along; if you need convincing, just ask around amongst those who have attended previous years!

The event is intended as a week long occasion and, as well as making the organisation significantly easier for those who volunteer their time to make it all come together, initial bookings will only be available for the full week - the ability to make a shorter booking will become available from the 1st May onwards.

Dates are from 12:00 15th - 12:00 21st August 2009, details of this and other important dates such as Dan Preparation weekend courses are available on the diary page. If you're planning on grading at summer school this year make sure you check the dates out and come along.

Any questions/suggestions etc; please direct them to your sensei, fellow students or via the forum and we'll do our best to get back to you.

Thanks to all the people who took part in the open course and grading on the 15/16th November for helping to create another successful weekend.

Special thanks to the grading panel of Daren, Simon and Liz for giving up their time so that we have the opportunity to demonstrate our progress and help the club to keep moving forward. As always thanks to Mike for running the open class over the two days enabling the new format of gradings combined with open courses.

This format seems to be quite effective; ensuring those grading can warm up sufficiently before grading and occupy themselves with productive training afterwards, it also promotes a more club oriented atmosphere encouraging those who are not taking part in the grading to come down and be part of the day.

If you've any suggestions on ways to improve or would like to help with the arranging/running of these weekend events please post feedback/suggestions on the discussion forum or talking with your sensei.

Grading results were:

6th kyu
Alan Parry
Vaz zitounis
Mikiko Lovering
John Murphy
Chris Hounslow
Kevin Hounslow
Chris Gwinnel
Gary Dark

5th Kyu
Jolane Abrahams
Stuart Turner
Ken King
Morgan Kidd
Lee Howells
Dale Harris

2nd kyu
Fiona Gill
Carla Benjamin
Ahmed Robley
Jess Bromley
Struan Healey Brown
Ross Titmuss
Mark Newman

Hopefully everyone who came this time will come along and take part in the next event; regardless of whether they are grading or not. These are perfect opportunities to not only push our aikido forward as a club and federation but also to maintain and develop the bonds of friendship that make our training so much more enjoyable.