Andrew Buchanan – Recruitment & Member
I began practicing Aikido aged 17 in the early 1960’s. I had just left school and started an apprenticeship in Glasgow. I enrolled in a local College to improve my qualifications and there saw Aikido for the first time. This was the first Aikido club in Scotland run by Tom Weir, then an orange belt. As a young inexperienced club, we had close links with The Hut Dojo in London and had regular instruction from Sensei Ken Williams, other Hut Dan Grades, and visiting Japanese Instructors.
As part of a career change, I moved to Durham University in the 70’s and finding no Aikido took up Judo and some Aikido at the University Judo club, with a fellow student Malcolm Blackwood, a Judo black belt. From Durham, I moved to London where I practiced with various clubs around London and Essex, before moving to Fleet in Hampshire. There I met the Aikido Fellowship through a branch club of the Fellowship in Fleet becoming a student of Shihan Ralph Reynolds. I have been with the Fellowship ever since and have moved up through the ranks, thoroughly enjoying the experience and the quality of the teaching.
I also practice Taiji and am a member of various internal martial arts groups, including the 6H and the Internal Aikido groups. I am a qualified NVQ assessor and have been involved in teaching and coaching Aikido for more than 25 years.
Contact via membership@bab.org.uk