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The
Shotokan of England Karate Union
The
Portsmouth Karate Club (formerly Portsmouth Shotokan) was formed
in the mid 1960's and from it the South of England Karate
Union (SEKU) was formed.
The club is also a founder member of the Karate Union of
Great Britain (KUGB)
Due
to many of its members venturing out and starting their own clubs
during the Bruce Lee, boom years. The well-established Portsmouth
club had many associated clubs working close with it.
As mentioned, the Portsmouth Karate Club (the name was
changed from Portsmouth Shotokan to avoid confusion with a small
breakaway group who chose to call their club by the same name!)
was a member of the KUGB, but beliefs on certain policy
decisions left some members feeling disillusioned.
A
meeting was planned and representatives from the associated clubs
were invited in order to discuss the situation, the main point of
the agenda being a new locally based association. On the
evening of 2nd April 1982 - twenty two associated clubs
from the KUGB met at the home of Sensei Mick Dewey.
By the end of the meeting, 20 of the attending clubs had
voted to form a new organization in the South and, the South of
England Karate Union (SEKU)
was born. This
changed some years later by popular vote to the Shotokan of
England Karate Union.
With
Mick Dewey installed as Chief Instructor and Mervyn O’Donnell as
the General Secretary, SEKU was up and running, some new
clubs grew, including one at Portchester headed up by Mervyn
O’Donnell and another at Lovedean under the instruction of Brian
Smith.
It
was very sad to have left the KUGB, particularly for Mick
Dewey as it meant leaving an association that at the time meant so
much to him, worse still his instructor and mentor Keinosuki
Enoeda Sensei, would not be able to visit the Portsmouth Dojo in
an official capacity any more.
Mick
had spent several years as a member of the KUGB team squad
coached by Enoeda Sensei and Andy Sherry.
The Team Squad at that time consisted of such eminent
members as Terry O’Neill, Billy Higgins, Bob Rhodes, Bob Poynton,
Dave Hazard, Mick Wragg, Jimmy O’Grady, Joe Farley and the late
Steve Cattle. The
Team traveled to Tokyo, Japan in 1977 for the IAKF World
Championships staged at the Budokan and took third place and a
bronze medal.
In 1980 Mick was a member of the Gold medal winning KUGB
Team at the European Championships in Brussels.
When
the British team squad returned to the UK from the IAKF World
Championships, Mick remained in Japan in order to spend time
training at the Japan Karate Association (JKA) Headquarters
in Ebisu, Tokyo. He
stayed at the apartment of his long time friend Dave Hazard who
was at that time living in Tokyo and training at the JKA.
With
the new association up and running, SEKU joined the Federation
of English Karate Organisations (FEKO) who in turn was
in membership of the English Karate Council (EKC).
There was an apposing group at that time – the English
Karate Board (EKB) but the two groups eventually amalgamated.
With the joining of these two groups, SEKU became
a founder member of the English Karate Governing Body (EKGB)
- Since preceded by Karate England (KE)
The
first SEKU annual championships staged at the
Mountbatten Centre Portsmouth, was a resounding success.
Summer training courses held on the Isle of Wight annually
were also very popular.
SEKU was a happy outfit and things were going well,
grading examiners led by Mick Dewey were Mervyn O’Donnell, and
Dave Hinks was later promoted to the same grading examiner status.
In
1984, Mick invited his friend Dave Hazard to join the new outfit
and Dave was very keen. It
was however, the policy of SEKU that to become a grading
examiner, you must be running your own club.
As Dave did not have one, Mick negotiated with senior
members of his own former club in Brighton for Dave to become
it’s resident Instructor.
Both parties were very happy with the arrangement and Dave
moved into the area, successfully running the club for SEKU
until January 2003.
Mick
had started the Brighton Karate Club with Phil Elliott in June
1974, traveling from Portsmouth twice weekly and was its
instructor until the inauguration of SEKU in
1982. It was then handed over to the then senior members Will
Davies, Paul Bonnett, Greg Wedekind and John Cave to carry on the
good work, and so allow Mick to spend more time on promoting the
new association.
In
January 2003, Dave decided to move on and form his own group and
is now resident in Nottingham.
Brian
Smith, Instructor at the Lovedean Karate Club was promoted to
Grading examiner, along with Jess Lavender at Billingshurst.
Unfortunately,
Jess chose to join Dave Hazard in his new venture.
Dave Hinks is now retired from karate and his club in
Eastleigh is no longer running.
The
association today is as strong as ever, and has affiliated clubs
in Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, North Kent, the Isle of Wight,
Hampshire and Surrey. SEKU
believes that karate training is for all, with the
membership ranging from all ages and abilities. Thanks to
the leadership of Mick Dewey and fellow senior instructors, we
have a good standard of Karate-ka throughout. We also have a
good competition team squad who travel to many selected
tournaments throughout the year, both in this country and
internationally.
SEKU
has a long history of traditional Shotokan karate and the teaching
methods are taught virtually same way as that of Mick's instructor
Keinosuki Enoeda Sensei. The organisation has strength in depth,
it has character and drive and the leadership has many years of
experience behind them. They
believe, that with that experience, the present and future
generations of instructors will thrive and the future of SEKU
will flourish.
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