Nelson Seminar

Hutt Kendo Club had eight members and their supporters make the trip by ferry and van all the way to Stoke for the annual Nelson Kendo Seminar. Two Ozzies - Jamie Fennessy (7th dan) and Ron Bennett (5th dan) took the seminar and we learnt heaps about Kendo in its many forms.

Good news on the grading front. All of our members performed well and all three who went for a grade were successful. Chris Mills, our Boston import, took his grading for the first time (ok so he's been doing Kendo for two years, he just hasn't got round to it) and passed 3rd kyu - congratulations; Nic Phillip passed his 4th kyu with great style and we have a NEW 1 kyu - Scott Duncan who impressed the grading panel with his straight cuts and clean kendo. We had a nice dinner eating our food off heated stones on Saturday night and were very tired returning late on the Sunday night, but for the fun, solid Kendo practice and club comraderie it was well worth it.

Visitors to Hutt Kendo Club
We were vey lucky to have three visitors in March to regular club nights.The first was Mr Brian Cross who is the liaison officer for Hutt City Council and Sister Cities relationship. He saw our club in action and will visit Minoh City in April to discuss ways we can share Kendo exchanges withour Sister City, something we would like to do.

Then we had not one but two members of the NZ Kendo Squad women's team visit us in early March. They are Julia White (Sandan and currently residing in Kamakura Japan) and Alice Graham (Nidan and currently residing in London and practicing with Sensei Holt of Mumeishi Kendo Club). Our members had some fiesty gi-geiko with these tough women who are in full training for the World Kendo Tournament which is finally holding an 'official' woman's tournament for the first time in the 30 odd years it has been in existence.Thanks for visiting us, all other players most welcome.