EAST Durham Ishinryu is going from strength to strength – so much so the club has been recognised in the corridors of power in Whitehall!

After securing a Cash4Clubs grant earlier this year, the club has now been invited to a reception at the Houses of Parliament with other winners.

Myself, sensei Steve, Aaron Swales and Liam Conroy will travel to the capital for the reception on October 14.

The event will celebrate winners and the success of the grant scheme.

We will be able to spread the word of the club and its successes to sporting professionals and politicians.

Our young athletes and instructors will also get to mix with some famous names from sport!

It is yet another great achievement for the club, it members and Ishinryu.

Well done to all.

 THE dates for the Ticky Donovan (OBE) Summer Course 2011 have been released – and it’s going to be an exciting new format.

Next year will see the course condensed into four days from July 1 to 4 to give even more of you a chance to attend.

Camp bosses at the site in St Osyth, near Clacton, are ready and waiting to take your booking.

It’s going to be a great few days – so get your booking in now.

See Sensei Foster for more information.

WE’RE a little late in giving you the news – but tiny Jack Morris battled his way to the Student of the Month crown for June.

He’s only been with us a short while – but he’s already made his name with his infectious smile.

He been a pleasure to teach and keeps getting better all the time. And after securing his first red strip he took the honours for the month.

Keep training hard and we’ll be revealing who who will take the trophy for July very soon.

HERE’S to Summer Course 2011 after another fantastic year!

For those of you who missed it – myself, Sensei Steve, Aaron Swales, Paul Conroy and Liam Conroy attended the Ticky Donovan OBE Summer Course 2010 in Clacton and what a great week it was.

With some superb teaching, great competition and some good times!!!!

It is always a pleasure to train with some of the country’s top instructors, including of course Sensei Donovan, sensei Dave Hazard, sensei Lee Smith and sensei Jonathan Mottram.

This year saw sensei Bruce Hyland appear as a guest instructor from Ishinryu Australia. It was great to see him in action and cement relationships with East Durham Ishinryu.

Myself and Tony Spinks were honoured to be able to instruct a couple of sessions on the course and all our members did themselves proud in both competition, training and etiquette. I’m proud of you all.

The week was crowned off with sensei Lee Smith being awarded his 5^th Dan. A big congratulations from all at East Durham Ishinryu.

I hope to see more of our students attending the course next year – Can’t wait!

Click here to see a gallery of pictures from the course

 LITTLE Georgio Catleugh is only six – but he’s already packing a punch.

He became the latest pupil to pick up the student of the Month trophy for May.

Georgio has really worked hard these past few weeks and after celebrating his 6^th birthday, he was delighted to pick up the award.

Georgio has come on amazingly since he started the club back in September and it’s easy to forget just how young he is.

Well done. Keep training.

RAIL bosses have stepped in to help East Durham’s two karate athletes keep their international careers on the right track.

Liam Conroy, 16, and Aaron Swales, 23, have both had a string of successes and medals wins in recent months.

Aaron recently returned from the European Karate Championships in Greece, while Liam took the national cadet crown in his weight and age category at the English Championships.

The pair were invited to take part in a hastily arranged demonstration to showcase their talent at a martial arts extravaganza this weekend alongside the best in Britain – but were having difficulties getting transport to the event.

The Seni event is being held on Saturday and Sunday at London’s Excel Centre.

Bosses at East Coast trains, which operates the East Coast mainline, heard about the pairs plight and offered to shuttle them down to the capital.

The pair, who are both England internationals, train at the East Durham Ishinryu karate club, based at East Durham College, in Peterlee.

Aaron said: “This is an amazing opportunity to show what we can do in front of what promises to be a massive crowd at one of the world’s biggest martial arts events.

 “It was put together pretty quickly and we were going to struggle to get there – but thanks to East Coast we can represent the region, our country and karate. It is a great gesture and we will do them proud.”

 Aaron fights in the U-75kg weight category, while Liam took the honours at the English National Championships in the 14-15yrs U-57kg event.

He has now 16 and is hoping to use his appearance at the Seni event to impress England selectors further as he steps up to the junior categories.

East Coast spokesman Paul Williams said: “When we heard about Aaron and Liam’s situation, we were happy to help. We know how important grassroots sport is in the North-East.

“East Coast runs 60 trains every weekday between the North East and London, so there’s bound to be a train to get them to the capital in time for Saturday’s festival.”

IF you missed it – East Durham Ishinryu’s rising stars Aaron Swales and Liam Conroy made their TV debut on the BBC.

The pair were a top item on the sports section of the evening regional news programme.

With interviews and action – the piece was a great boost for the club and also featured some more of our students in the background.

Well done – may be the start of a TV career!!!!!

Click on the image to see the clip.

COULD your karate talent make you a young movie star? –

You could win a a chance to be on the red carpet at the premier of the Hollywood blockbuster Karate Kid.

The English Karate Federation has been in consultation with Sony Pictures, and has been exclusively chosen to help promote the pending release of the movie to hit the screens in July.

As a result of the collaboration between Sony Pictures and the EKF, the competition ‘Search for the UK Karate Kid’ is open exclusively to members of the English Karate Federation under 18yrs of age.

The winner of the first prize of the competition gets a once in a life time opportunity to walk the red carpet at the star studded premier of the Karate Kid in London, coupled with a chance to win their club £5000.

Click on the picture to find out more

Sensei Foster reflects on what has been a fantastic few weeks for East Durham Ishinryu in his latest blog.

Click here to read more.

And the Ticky Donovan (OBE) Summer Course is just a few weeks away. Visit the summer course site to look back at previous years.

EAST Durham’s Aaron Swales has now arrived in Greece with the rest of the England karate squad as they make their final preparations for this weekend’s European Championships.

After a wee-long pre-train – the squad are looking sharp as their head into the tournament.

Ishinryu’s Sensei Jonathan Mottram holds England’s hoped in the kata – and will compete on Friday, ahead of the individual events.

Aaron and the men’s team will compete on Sunday. We wish them all well.

Click here to follow the progress of the squad.