A brief History of

The Shotokan of England Karate Union

SEKU, formed in April 1982 and born out of the original Portsmouth Shotokan Karate Club.  The club is 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 Shotokan Karate Club 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 2^nd 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 organisation in the South and, the South of England Karate Union  (SEKU) was born.  This was later changed 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 Sensie, 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 Sensie and Andy Sherry.  The Team Squad at that time consisted of such eminent members as Terry O’Neill, Billy Higgins, Bob Rhodes, Bob Poynton, Steve Cattle, Dave Hazard, Mick Wragg, Jimmy O’Grady and Joe Farley.  The Team travelled 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 amalgamated. With the joining of these two groups, SEKU became a founder member of current English Karate Governing Body  (EKGB).

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 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, travelling 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 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, but his club in Eastleigh is currently under the most capable leadership of long standing member Lee Bondsfield.

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 beleives  that karate training is for all, with the membership ranging from all ages and abillities.   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.