Inside this issue:

For the first time in a long time students from the club entered back  into the Tyne & Wear competition circuit.
Seven students took part in the 16th Tyne & Wear Open held in Sunderland on Sunday 25th February.
The competition was strong and very talented but so were the Takumi gang.  Whilst we only walked away with three trophies, all the students put forward excellent performances.
Brenda Gilroy was taking part in her first competition and managed to secure 2nd place in the Adult Junior Grade Individual Kata and took third place in the Ladies Individual Kumite.
James Palmer was just pipped at the post and took second place in the Juniors 12--14yrs Individual Kumite event.
The other students taking part were Ross Wilson, Kerry Gilroy, Steven Kerr, Scot Glancy and the old boy "yours truly".
All gave an excellent account of

themselves in both Kumite and Kata events.  Unfortunately one of the fighters suffered a 6--0 defeat at the hands of a superior tournament fighter. 
Yes, you guessed, I got gubbed!
Unfortunately, the only draw back to the day was the fact that the new flag system for judging kata events proved to be a complete waste of time as the competition was still going strong when we left at 7pm (9 hours after it started) with still at least three events to go.

We also had four students entered into the Kugatsu Invitational Tournament in Glasgow on Saturday 3rd March.
Our kata team was in fine form but were just pipped at the post by Renshinkan who were 0.2 of a point ahead. 
Never the less, a very respectable second place was achieved.
We had success in the individual kata with Steven Kerr taking 1st place, and Kerry Gilroy taking 2nd,

in the 13--15yrs, Blue Belt and below section.
In the individual sparring we were successful as well.  Ross Wilson took 2nd place and James Palmer 3rd, in the 13--15 yrs Boys Open Kumite.  Steven Kerr took a well deserved 4th place in this event after a great fight with Clubmate James.
Kerry Gilroy took 4th place in the Girl equivalent event, after fast and furious fight with Tracy Kirkpatrick from Edinburgh Shukokai.  Tracy (aka Speedy) later went ton to win the event.
In all, it was another fine performance from all the students who performed extremely well and did us all proud.
The next competition is the Wishaw Open which will be held on Sunday 25th March .
Further details will be given nearer the event. 

• This newsletter will be produced in paper format and internet format.
  
• If you have access to the internet it can be viewed at
  

I have decided that it's time we renewed some of our pads, belts, and other items of training equipment etc.
I would like to try and pursue the idea of acquiring more mats so that hopefully we can cover the entire dojo floor. 
I also want to try and purchase some tracksuits or shell suit tops for the club.  This will contribute to our team identity at competitions.  These outfits will be offered to students at a reduced price, if we can raise sufficient funds.  Any

ideas for designs are most welcome.
So, the time has come to organise a fundraiser that will help generate these necessary funds.
Any excess funds will be used to subsidise transport costs, competition fees etc.
Tthe idea that I have come up with is simple but different.
We will be going to do a "Sponsored Kick".  What's different about that I here you say.  Well, we are going to be doing it

outdoors and across the Forth Road Bridge !
The basic idea is to do it in relays with a group of students positioned at various positions on the bridge.
The kick can be any kick you wish, apart from jumping kicks (don't want anybody going over the top)
It's still in the planning stage and I'd appreciate any comments and any other ideas for fundraising.