Training was well back to normal after the festive period and New Year celebrations by February 10th. Many of the association had gathered for the monthly Sunday afternoon’s weapons classes at our hombu dojo in Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury. By many we mean noticeably more than the usual for the weapons class (which itself is usually quite strong). Something was awry. The extra turnout was down a large number of the association wanting to wish Sensei Derrick a very happy 70th birthday on the day of the class, and what better way to celebrate him reaching this significant milestone in his life than to have a busy, fun practice (taught by Riley Shihan on this occasion) with one of our most senior instructors? Naturally this was followed by birthday presents and cake – for Sensei Derrick it was chocolate of course!
Sensei Derrick has been practicing Aikido for 45 years, he still trains regularly at the Tuesday evening class at hombu dojo and teaches the Wednesday evening class at our dojo in Pudsey. He inspires many of us as well as keeping us entertained off the mat. On his way to being promoted to 7th Dan last year, not only has he has trained with and under an extraordinary amount of high ranking instructors an extraordinary number of times, he has gained a large amount amount of knowledge of Aikido off the mat. More information on Sensei’s aikido heritage can be found on his instructor profile.
