Greetings from England

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Alan Holmes
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2012 9:37 pm

Greetings from England

Post by Alan Holmes »

Hi
I have been studying Uechi Ryu in the UK for a few decades now and I thought it would be nice to discuss the finer points with a wider range of interested parties.
I started my training in Karate with a brief 3 year stint at Wado Ryu in the early 70s. Some of the high grades at the club I attended in Yorkshire heard about Uechi Ryu and visited Liverpool to train with the late great Harry Benfield. I was at first less than impressed by the techniques they brought back and absolutely hated Sanchin dachi. However Harry visited our club and I was impressed by both his ability and his genuine love for the style. I began to work harder at the basics and Sanchin kata and in a short time I was hooked.
Many of the members of the club fell by the wayside and not a few went back to Wado, but I never lost interest in the style. I travelled to Liverpool as often as I could and practiced what I had learned at the Yorkshire club.
Harry Benfield believed in training as hard as possible and when speaking of a particularly hard session said,"those that died were the lucky ones". However my fellow student Duncan Harper and I were always made welcome and were referred to as the Yorkshire lads.
During the 80s and 90s Harry was a great influence on my training and he , his family and senior students became my close friends.
Unfortunately ill health hit Harry in the mid 90s his club drifted apart before any of us really knew what was wrong with him.
Duncan Harper and I still train regularly in Yorkshire with a few like minded people. Over the last decade or so we have been in contact with Dave Scott's organisation and train with them at their Liverpool dojo once a month or so.
I continue to try to perfect my Uechi Ryu and am confident that in the next decade or two I could be almost good.
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gmattson
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Re: Greetings from England

Post by gmattson »

Welcome aboard Alan. If you are looking for an exciting exchange of ideas, concepts, techniques along with many really nice people; Well you've found it.

Looking forward to seeing you on-line and active in the forums.

Regards,
George
GEM
"Do or do not. there is no try!"
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