WKU Dan Grading, 03 July 2016

Sunday morning we were again at the Bristol Dojo for the summer Dan grading session, the candidates were put through a hard session by our Chief Instructor Alan Flook 8th Dan.

At the end of the session those awarded the grade of Shodan were Sarah Meredith and Donna Robertson from the Clevedon club, Lily Hopkins from the Great Bentley club, Adam Miller from the Colchester Club and finally Amelia Poynter from the Brightlingsea club.

Moving up through the grades to Nidan we had Tad Jenkins from Broadwell, Nadia Guy and Sophie Ward from Yeovil. Grading up to Sandan were Keely Guy her son Ollie and Stephen Ward, all again from the Yeovil club and Mike Lewis from Bristol Karate Club. To put the icing on top of the cake Alan gave some promotions out, our President Dave Wheatley and the senior instructor from the Colchester area Les Birkin were both promoted to Hachidan (8th Dan) and Rob Smith was promoted to Shichidan (7th Dan)

Worth mentioning that Donna and Sarah who both successfully graded for their Shodan black belts at this grading are a 38 year old mother of two and a 49 year old mother of three and grandmother of seven, respectively.  Demonstrating that you are never too old to start karate!

Well done to all who graded and congratulations to the students who passed the grading. Thank you to all who supported the students in their efforts.

Click here to see the gallery of Dan grading presentation images  and here to see the Dan grading images for Colchester and ‘The East’.

Kevin Barrett

List of successful Dan grades:

Shodan
Sarah Meredith
Donna Robertson
Lily Hopkins
Adam Miller
Amelia Poynter

Nidan
Tad Jenkins
Nadia Guy
Sophie Ward

Sandan
Keely Guy
Ollie Guy
Stephen Ward
Mike Lewis

Shichidan
Rob Smith

Hachidan
Dave Wheatley
Les Birkin