It all started back in 1969 when an uncle of mine, Adrian Smith, who was training at a club in Torbay England at the time, got my parents interest up. He talked about it all the time until my parents decided to go and train, of course once they started they were hooked. Even my grandmother started training. My father was not home very often as he was a long distance lorry driver so he trained when he could. To get extra lessons my uncle who was a 4th kyu at the time, would go to the local pub with my parents and grandmother where the owner let them train on his tiny dance floor on a Sunday afternoon. Pretty soon I was allowed to train too. I had always been interested as I would watch my mother practice her kata's at home, and now at the age of 9, I was finally allowed to have a go. We continued to train at the pub and gradually a few locals took an interest too and asked if they could train.

By this time my uncle had joined the marines and my parents were teaching us. They were being graded by Sensei Andy Sherry. Pretty soon we were too large to train on the tiny dance floor so we had to find somewhere else. In 1970 we moved to the B.R.S.A. club in Newton Abbot and called ourselves the Newton Abbot Shotokan Karate Club and had our first affiliation to the KUGB. My mother was now a green belt and Sensei Sherry who was now a third dan visited us every six months for a grading. There were no orange or red belts then just white until 7th kyu which was yellow and no kihon kata just Heian Shodan. The club just kept growing and growing.

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