We’ve had a great start to 2019, so here’s a chance to catch up on recent activity.
Last month we held our prestige Masters of Martial Arts Adults Awards Night at the Dunkenhalgh. The evening was a black tie event and our Blackburn club took nearly 30 guests.
Three of our students, Karenne Aspin, Asma Adam and Dave Cottam were nominated for our Blackburn Student of the Year - with Dave winning the trophy. Sensei’s Phil and Steve were also recognised with an Outstanding Achievement Award for their work in building up a great community of students in Blackburn.
Toward the end of the month we held our Academy competitions with 55 students taking part in random attacks and a pairs demonstration of Ju Jitsu. The event was great practice for our bigger Masters of Martial Arts Club Competitions on 14th April at Oakhill College, Whalley. We’ve already got a bigger team going than last year and it would be nice to beat our haul of 34 medals too. If you haven’t entered, feel free to bring the kids and come along and watch. You’ll see some fantastic performances.
Earlier this month we had our Junior Gradings too at Hyndburn Leisure Centre. Once again some great effort by the students meant that everyone moved a step closer towards their goal of becoming a black belt. Our Adult Grading also takes place this week.
Last weekend saw our Junior Awards event at Ewood Park. What an amazing attendance - a sell out at 250 tickets and we recognised the efforts of over 100 Little Dragons and Junior Students.
Congratulations to our Overall Student of the Year - Amy. Certificates and trophies were presented by the Mayor and Prof Martin Dixon and the event raised £1490 towards our Defibrillators for Schools project. That means we can increase the number of Blackburn primary schools we have donated to by another two, taking the total to 19. Recent donations have been to Intack & Brookhouse Primary Schools. Many thanks to those who bought tickets, raffle tickets, donated prizes and baked cakes too. You are all amazing.
Prior to the Awards event, the Academy held it’s annual general meeting of the sports club which runs our fantastic venue. The meeting approved the accounts for the year and re-appointed Sensei Peter Cheshire as one of the directors. The meeting also set the annual subscription rate for 2019/2020 as £15 for an individual and £20 for a family. These funds are used to support our not for profit Academy and to support the provision of services for students with competitions, parties and other activities. All students/parents will receive an email shortly inviting you to join or continue as members.
We’ve also hosted at the Academy, courses for students from Blackburn College and Youth Unlimited, plus groups of Cubs and Beavers. Freddie and Max both celebrated with Martial Arts Birthday Parties and we’ve got more Cubs/Beavers groups planned and courses for primary school students who are part of Blackburn’s Children’s University.
The Academy is currently going through an accreditation process to achieve the new national Safeguarding Code in Martial Arts award. More info can be found at www.safeguardingcode.com.
We’ve launched our YouTube channel - Masters of Martial Arts Blackburn - and uploaded beginners guide videos of Novice and Stance kata to assist students in practising at home. We’ve had over lots of views in the first month and there’s also one on how to tie your belt.
Exam season starts soon, so Good Luck to our students currently revising and don’t forget that we are open through the whole of Easter if you feel the need to let off some steam or alleviate some stress.
As an Easter special offer, we will allow all students to train in as many extra classes as they want over the school holidays for free so that you can keep them off those consoles and keep them suitably engaged and entertained with something positive for them.
Happy Mother’s Day to all our mums and thanks to everyone for all your support - we wouldn’t be what we are without you.