Well done to Stoke Gifford students Liz & Jay along with instructor Miss Burridge for participating in a sponsored sparathon organised by Master Deedigan to benefit a 17 year old local lad who has brain damage. With over 60 students sparring for 1½ hours it proved to be a great work out as well as raising lots of money for a very worthy cause.

Congratulations to Stoke Gifford’s newest Team leader Miss Phoebe Grandfield. After a 6 month course assessment & a final exam Miss Grandfield was presented with her certificate & Team leader dobok at the recent kup grading.

Well done Phoebe.

Overall Attendance 78.1%

Final Exam 90.3%

 

 

Congratulations to the new Stoke Gifford Black belts above.

On Saturday 31st Oct 2009, after a 2 hour seminar with Master Trevor Nicholls, the ladies were then graded by Master Nicholls, Master Lawes & Master Deedigan, along with a panel of senior grades. Once the very nerve racking grading was complete after about 3 hours, Master Nicholls then announced the results. A 100% pass rate for all the ladies, a very proud moment for Stoke Gifford TKD.

Well done ladies.

Mrs Sue Mynott 1st Degree

Ms Alison May 1st Degree

Mrs Jay Heryet 1st Degree

Miss Kate Mitchell 1st Degree

Mrs Lynda Howells 1st Degree

Imperial Bristol were  once again privileged to host Master Trevor Nicholls VIII Degree President of Imperial Taekwon-do association & Secretary General of the ITF to conduct a seminar degree grading & banquet.

On Saturday 17th April over 60 Taekwon-do practitioners ranging from blue belt to black belt 5th Degree travelled to Thornbury, Bristol to train under Master Nicholls who was assisted by Master Don Deedigan VII Degree. Students travelled from all over the country, one lady Bernadette Doyle who was due to fly in from Ireland had her flight cancelled, but showing true TKD Indomitable Spirit decided to make the long journey via car. The seminar started with a very brisk warm up by Master Deedigan & Master Nicholls continued the theme concentrating on the basic Taekwon-do kicks, emphasising the power & impact that each kick should contain. The students were given only small breaks to catch their breath while Master Nicholls used both Master Deedigan & Mr Vaughan Buxton to demonstrate the next techniques. The two hours soon whizzed by & the event was finished off  by the usual group photos.

After an hours break for the Masters & students to have a brief rest, a degree grading began with around 15 students grading from 1st—4th degree. All students were tested for three hours which included sparring, patterns, self defence, line work & power. Once all the smashed pieces of wood were moved to one side Master Nicholls asked the students to line up where he gave out the results of the people that had put in an above average performance. Imperial’s  Andrew Lawrence was placed 3rd, Liz Ward from Imperial Bristol was placed 2nd, with SCMA’s Gary Burdock being given overall best. It was then handed over to the Instructors to announce the results to their students. All students had been promoted the next degree with a 100 % pass rate. The very happy & emotional students then got a couple of hours rest before getting ready for the evening banquet.

The banquet took place not far from the seminar venue with Master Nicholls as special guest. The evening got underway with Master Nicholls giving a brief speech on how the evening was for everyone to enjoy as one big family, he also commented on a lovely day & how relaxed the atmosphere was. We then all sat to enjoy our three course meal, being entertained by various photo’s & video’s . Once the meal was finished Master Nicholls along with instructors proceeded to present the new belts to the successful candidates that day. The rest of the evening was then free for everyone to relax & celebrate a very successful day.

Congratulations to all that attended the days events & a very big thank you to Master Nicholls & Master Deedigan for sharing their many years of vast knowledge with us. We look forward to the next seminar in October.

Shelley Armorgie 1st Degree

Liz Ward 2nd Degree

Fran White 3rd Degree

A massive well done goes to the new Stoke Gifford degree grades. Fran White, Liz Ward & Shelley Armorgie all performed at a regional degree grading headed by Master Nicholls & Master Deedigan.

The day began with a two hour Master Nicholls seminar, which was very physically demanding. The ladies then had a short break before a three hour grading which included patterns, sparring & power breaking. The expectations from the Master examiners were high, & I’m pleased to say that all three excelled in their indomitable spirit & gave 100% to everything that was thrown at them

After many pieces of smashed wood were moved to one side the students were asked to line up as Master Nicholls prepared to announce the results. Liz was announced as giving one of the best performances of the grading by Master Nicholls & promoted to 2nd Degree. Then I was pleased & proud to announce the new promotions of Shelley Armorgie to 1st Degree & Fran White to 3rd Degree.

The ladies then had a couple of hours to recuperate before attending a banquet with Master Nicholls where they were presented by him with their new belts. The rest of the evening was left to relax & celebrate a very successful day.

Congratulations ladies.