I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who turned up and helped out with Orientation Week activities. It was a very successful time or the Club, with nearly 40 folk providing us with contact details on Market day and another half dozen making independent enquiries regarding the Club over the week. We even had a couple of new folk come along last week to train, and I am looking forward to seeing even more new faces over the coming weeks.
Market day was perfect weather again this year, and shifting the position of the mat and being prepared with cleaning equipment made it far easier to protect the demonstration surface. The addition of a new 9x9 m tarpaulin laid underneath the mats also ensured that we had the least amount of "mat drift" for a public demonstration, making the day more enjoyable and safer than in previous years. We even dragged out Mr J Tamishigiri at the end of the day for some test cutting, which was large amounts of fun!
I want to especially thank Dave Johnson and his Kyokushin students for this demonstration, Eric Tavener for a run through with Jodo, and Maaike Stehouwer for sticking around the extra few days in town to once again spruik the Club to the University community. And of course to Brady, Ray, Jack, Tracy, Matt G, Sean C, Jonn, Rob C, Sian and Tomoko for their contributions on the day.
So I'd like to wish everyone a great start to the academic year, with regular classes commencing this week, and hope to build on the Club's solid start throughout the year!