Hi guys, A new Aikido club has started in my town (or at least its the first I've heard of it) and I'm doing the usual thing of checking for mcdojo. With that, has anyone heard of the following: Aikido North East? United Kingdom Aikido Union? Andre Nocquet? Dynamic Aikido Nocquet? John Emmerson? I know absolutely nowt about Aikido so any help would be appreciated. Cheers folks
I recall Andre Noquet (French/Swiss/Belgian I think - long since disceased) as being one of the first Europeans to train with Ueshiba, and obtain a high Dan grading. This looks like some organistion based on his legacy by former students. I have heard of some folk in Geordie land training with Noquet for quite some time, but thats about it. The vid on their website looked passable. Other folk here will give you a better description. Sakumeikan is up in that part of the world.
I trained with them for a while at their club in Whitley Bay and found them to be a pretty good group. Have been thinking of getting back into aikido again lately and with them again at a club close to where I live now. They teach traditional aikido so cover all the bases from empty hand to weapons (bokken, jo and tanto). They do an introductory course (4 or 6 weeks I cannot remember exactly which!) for £10 and the regular training fee is £25 per month which enables you to train at any of their clubs throughout the North East, so you could theoretically train practically every night of the week! They also have links in europe and hold regular seminars with their affiliated clubs in europe. Best bet is to go along and have a look and see if its for you!!
GB-UK - cheers for that. They train on Thursdays so I may have a look down tonight or next week. Vimto - I wasn't until I spotted a poster in the barbers of all places. The club trains on one of my karate nights so it might give me the kick up the rear that my karate needs.
Let us all know how it went, I'm going to take at a class on Monday night so will post my thoughts after that!
Andre Nocquet was a direct student of O Sensei from 1955 to 1958 and introduced aikido into France and invited many of the original shihan who spread aikido to the UK including Tamura and Noro shihan. I got to train under him once in Paris. Excellent. regards koyo
If Koyo says its good stuff then thats good enough for me! I went to have a talk with the club instructor but they are apparently at an event north of the wall. However, a Judo club uses the hall before the Aiki club and the Judo instructor trains in both so he could fill me in. Sounds like a canny club and system and the judo class sounds good too *Wonders how long it'll take before he starts throwing people in Karate again*
Just checked and its the D.A.N. 12th International Summer School up in Largs, Scotland until the 8th August.
Hi Anth, Before you commit to a club you might want to visit here also: http://www.geocities.com/abbeyaikido/ The instructor there is registered at the Hombu and is fukushidoin also. mousemat
Thanks for that, mousemat. Unfortunately I'm kinda limited as to what I can get to at the moment due to having no transport (other than the bus) and no job. Knowing how long it takes the bus to get to Durham from Peterlee I'd rather stick with the local club for now. When I get transport however, Durham may be frequented for another art - Iaido or Kendo
Dear Anth, I dont know the distance between Durham nd Peterlee or how difficult it is to travl to Durham from Peterlee. Another dojo is in Durham.The Vane Tempest Hall [near Bede ].The Instructor is Arthur Lockyear , 4th dan, shidoin, a long term student of Chiba Sensei.He is a very experienced instructor and is well known in Aikido circles.Check out British BirankaiWebpage . for futher details. All the best , sakumeikan
Thanks for even more information, sakumeikan. Sounds like there's plenty of Aiki around in case I get into it in a big way and need more
Well I went along and they weren't on because the instructor was away on his hols!! I may go back but probably won't as the situation over my other classes seems to have been resolved!!
Malcolm is at Summer School with Chiba sensei this week. If he is still alive, I'm sure he will be at the class next Tuesday. mousemat
Well I had my first session last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. Cant remember the names of the four things I learnt but I can still remember the techniques themselves (or just about!). A shame I can only train once a week because of karate but I'll definitely be back there next week. Time now to write up the techniques I learnt so I can remember them then do a lot of reading in this here forum
Did you get the little red booklet? It has all the stuff you learn for the first few lessons before you go for the improvers course. It also has some basic info on aikido in it?
