Wantage Karate Club

Alan started practising Shotokan Karate in 1987 at his local karate club in Thurso, Scotland. The Thurso karate club has always been closely linked with the karate club in nearby Wick, and both clubs are affiliated to the Scottish Traditional Karate Federation headed by Sensei Kenny Taylor, 6th dan.

He moved to Edinburgh in 1994, and trained for about a year with a university club also affiliated to STKF. With characteristic lack of imagination he returned to Thurso after finishing university, and finally gained his shodan from Sensei Kawasoe, 8th dan in 2001. He graded to nidan in 2004. In 2006, Alan moved from the frozen north of Scotland down to Wantage, lured by the promise of a better job and warmer weather. He has enjoyed training at the Wantage Karate Club since then.