Some
stories of those that went before -
Allan Sensei
This was
written by me (Simon Thackeray of White
Oak Aikido and Reading University Aikido
Clubs) without any intention to make any
claims as to accuracy or it being any
version of a 'complete and true' UK
Aikido history. It is based on my own
memories of events, written information
that I have and my memory of what I have
been told. Lots of Aikido people and
lots of Aikido events have been omitted
because this is only about people and
events that interacted with my own
development in Aikido and that of the
White Oak and Reading University Aikido
Clubs, so it is all very much written
from my own perspective and only
includes what I want to and what I
remember right now as I write it.
However, if you think anything is
seriously inaccurate as opposed to being
omitted, then please let me know! Explore Aikido
history below, or more about martial
arts in Berkshire or martial
arts near Knighton Shropshire at
White Oak Aikido.
Mr. Allan taught Aikido at The
Hut on Wednesdays in the 1980s and also at
the Busen in Twickenham on Fridays. He was
a painter and decorator by trade.
He was awarded 5th dan in
November 1987. As a member of dan grading
panels, when Mr. Foster asked for any
comments from the panel to the
participants at the end of dan gradings,
he would invariably decline.
As an Aikido teacher, he
preferred to show moving technique and was
not really keen on the basic form. He
would say when teaching: "There's this
way, or this way or there's the old
way...". At the end of the session when
bowing out, he would bow fast in both
directions and just say: "Ta". He would
often show an Aikido technique and say in
his strong cockney accent: "It's just tiny
enko, innit".
Taking ukemi for him, as I had
the opportunity to do on several
occasions, he would suddenly change the
technique or direction into a different
one, saying "Ah, you resisted", before I
even had the sensation that I had done so
- a genius at Henkawaza.
He taught at the Aikido Summer
schools in Treforest, where he would be
quietly subversive, coming around and
showing different ways of doing the
techniques that Mr. Foster was teaching.
Once in his own session, after Mr. Foster
had taught Shihonage in great technical
detail, Andy Allan continued with
Shihonage in the afternoon but with lots
of variety and movement. Freed from
'technical constraint' we all went
berserk. When Mr. Foster came to watch, he
looked most unhappy and after showing some
of us some technical points from the side
of the mat, he left the dojo looking even
more unhappy. It was rumoured that he
almost packed his bags and went home
because we had totally lost everything
that he had been trying to teach that
morning.
Andy Allan taught a number of
Aikido courses at Reading University. This
is a write up by Robert Maughan (Reading
University Aikido Secretary) of one
evening session he taught in 1986 (a joint
session with Graham Paton Sensei's West
Middlesex Hospital Aikido Club):
On Wednesday 12th
November, the Reading University Aikido
Club was visited by Mr. Allan. For those
of you who do not know Mr. Allan, he is
a 4th dan and has an
excellent teaching style.
The evening was spent
mostly studying defences against 13th
form attacks, even the recent recruits
such as myself were starting to get the
idea. I must say, it was most refreshing
to watch someone throw our usual Sensei
around the room, rather than having him
throw us around the room. The session
was finished off with some very fast
kokyu-nage practice and after picking
ourselves up off the floor, we retreated
to the nearest University bar. In the
relative safety of St. David's bar, we
sat and listened to Sensei's words of
wisdom on Aikido and University beer.
All in all a
very enjoyable and useful evening and I
would advise anyone who is offered the
opportunity to attend a practice run by
Mr. Allan to do so. You will find it
well worthwhile.
Also
teaching Aikido then at The Hut were
Stan Samples and Ron Knight who taught
the beginners' session on Mondays after
Mr. Foster's weapons session, and Doug
Caves who taught the weapons session on
Thursdays until he stopped practising
and it was taken over by Julian Vowles.
Doug Caves was particularly keen on
having us do suburi with the heavy iron
bars instead of the usual wooden bokken.
This is a video of Andy
Allan Sensei at an Aikido course near
London teaching Kaeshi Waza in 1988:
Watch
our Aikido video here!
Not what you'll be
doing when you start, but sometimes
our more senior grades like to show
off a bit!
Find out more about
getting involved in the martial art
of Aikido in Whitton and Aikido in
Reading:
Home page
of White Oak Aikido UK Info
for Beginners - some more details
about Aikido and what to expect if you
come along to either our Reading or
Whitton dojos.
Discover the martial art of Aikido
near Knighton Powys at
our Whitton dojo.
Find out more about the martial art ofAikido
Reading Berkshire at our Caversham dojo.
Or
please Contact
us if you have any questions about
Aikido classes in Reading or Whitton.
White
Oak Aikido
