Kendal Judo Club History

Kendal Judo Club History Part 1

The 'Father of British Judo,' Gunji Koizumi, used to holiday in Grange, a seaside resort about twenty miles from Kendal. He was invited to the dojo on two or three occasions when he gave demonstrations and instruction on 'The Gentle Way'. There are not ma

It was an advert placed, at the beginning of September 1957, in the Westmorland Gazette by geological student, Peter Llewellyn, who was engaged in a survey of Shap Fell for a petro-cemical company, announcing a demonstration of the Japanese Martial Art of Judo in the YMCA which started the interest in 'The Gentle Way' in Kendal.

Twenty people attended the event and formed a club at the YMCA in 1958, initially practising on flock matresses.

In 1964, with the help of the Governors of Kendal Grammar School and Brian Cox, a local building contractor, the club moved into a permanent dojo with such luxuries as seperate changing rooms for men and women and showers, although the women had to wait for the men to have their shower first.
When British Team Captain, Tony Macconnell came to live in the area for a brief time the club really took off with members frequently winning medals at tournaments all over the country This culminated in Brian Cox coming No. 2 in the National Squad.
By the late 1970s Tony Macconnell had come to live permanenly in Lambrigg (a hamlet just outside Kendal) and had opened the doors of his house to young players who were training full time.