Another milestone seminar was held recently for a rapidly expanding Kings­bridge shotokan karate organisation.

Simon Bligh sensei came to the Quayside Leisure Centre to teach karate to members of Traditional Japanese Karate club.

Simon has been training in shotokan karate since 1974, where he started in his hometown of Liver­pool.

After relocating to London in 1982 he spent many years as a member of Enoeda sensei's famous Marshall St Dojo. A year in the USA saw him train in American freestyle karate. Simon took part in the KUGB nationals and southern regions.

He represented Marshall St internationally at the Thai Open Championships in 1986 and gained a silver medal in kumite and a bronze in kata.

In 1990 he spent a year living and working in Japan and while there continued his training at the Japanese Karate Associ­ation's Hombu Dojo in Tokyo, an experience he considers to be one of the highlights of his life. He was a silver medallist at the 1991 Japanese Karate Fed­era­tion's Chiba-ken Champ­­ionships.

In 2004 he joined the JKS and a trip in Tokyo soon followed. He also attended the JKS World Champion­ships in Oki­nawa.

Simon was a big contributor to the success of respected karate organisation JKS in England. He has a wealth of experience in shotokan karate and believes in 'karate for everyone, for all your life'. He is now a senior member of WTKO Eng­land.

TJK chief instructor and WTKO senior Ash Hawkes, based here in Kingsbridge, said: 'It is great that we can now benefit from all of this experience.

'After 13 years of teaching karate here it's like we've arrived. Being able to access all this world-class instruction, as WTKO south west we are taking the lead on sho­tokan karate here in Devon and Corn­wall.'

His karate organisation Traditional Japanese Karate is now an integral part of the World Tra­ditional Ka­rate Orga­nisation, placing them among some of the most respected and serious karate people around today.

Anyone interested in learning karate should contact Ash Hawkes on 077925 74745 or go to http://www.traditionaljapanesekarate.com">www.traditionaljapanesekarate.com.