Nigel Forrest
I first came into contact with martial arts aged 6 when I went to the local judo club, finding I liked it I joined.
About 4 ½ years later my instructor was forced to stop judo due to a slipped disc occurred when training. This meant handing the reigns over to another instructor brought in to keep the club running. Now the thing was that this club was part of a local private school and it was only the sheer force of his personality that persuaded the powers that be to open up judo to everyone.
When the new instructor turned up it was closed to 'outsiders' so to speak. This was back in the mid 70's, and being in a rural part of the west country martial arts clubs were not exactly on every street corner, in spite of the Bruce Lee boom going on (which incidentally passed us by).
Not long after Judo finished I came into contact with another art, this time in the form of karate, in particular the Shotokan style where I trained religiously, grading and eventually becoming the assistant instructor.
Sometime during all of this I managed to wind up in an Aikido class while I was at college, can't remember which style, but it was the combat based one.
Having moved northwards and after a couple of years away I started training again, but not on a regular basis with any one style/club, trying to find something that was more relevant to me proved difficult, in particular being able to defend myself effectively.
By a chance conversation, a guy at work mentioned he did martial arts (kung fu), and when I said I used to do karate but hadn't managed to train for a while an immediate rapport was struck.
He persuaded me to try out something called Defendo, a system of self defence that was being taught in Swindon. Having said yes we travelled down, well I was immediately hooked and have been travelling both there and Leeds ever since.
Many thanks must go to all my instructors over the years, as it's been an unusual journey getting to this point, starting some 34 odd years ago, Sensei Jeff Bullard (Judo), Sensei Geoff Richards (Shotokan), Jane for her Aikido (sorry can't remember her second name, but I do remember her being excellent), and of course many thanks to my current Defendo instructors, Clive and Karen Elliott, for their ongoing patience, and easy teaching style making it a pleasure to train with them, and to Steve Smith, my senior who makes it all look so effortless (if somewhat painful).
