|
Bulletin 12 part 2
Judo in Print - A comment from Alan Menzies
The following is a comment from Alan Menzies -
Thank you for your contribution Alan which is much appreciated ….
However we are not all men! (Sorry Diana)
Gentlemen
- Having read , with great interest, John Cornish writing about Kata
and then reading the fascinating letters of Sarah Mayer and her adventures
travelling to Japan, I felt that the very least I could do was write
and thank you for your effort and time in compiling ' The Bulletin'.
I
know something about these matters since I was once the editor of , I
believe, the only magazine devoted almost completely, we did include some
Kendo , to Judo which had an international readership. In those days
when Judo was possibly the fastest growing sport around reading about
it , or so we thought , was nearly as good as doing it .
I suspect
that the readers of 'The Bulletin' are pretty conversant with
the history of Judo in this country and probably elsewhere, we are a well
travelled lot , so I'll not bore your subscribers with the rise and fall of
Judo in this country, but , if I might take a little of your time I would
like to say something about the Sunday classes that Trevor Leggett ran at
the Budokwai . Quite a lot has been written about Trevor Leggett and his
undoubted influence on Judo in this country but perhaps I could say
something about the people who were in their way as important as the teacher
The
classes were run for about three years every Sunday from the middle
50's after the Budokwai moved to GK House and Kawamura had been appointed
Technical Director of the club . From the start they attracted people from
all over the country including Scotland and Wales. It is pertinent to
note the enthusiasm for Judo that was prevalent at the time. Alan
Petherbridge used to drive from Swansea on Sunday morning for the
afternoon class and then drive back in the evening carrying with him a
contingent of ardent Welsh fans who were willing to sit cramped up in a car
for hundreds of miles to be able to take part in the class.
Even more
arduous was the journey that the Scottish players made down from Glasgow and
Edinburgh for three hours instruction. I can remember when George Kerr first
arrived on the class . The Marr brothers travelled from the North East , the
mainstay of Judo in their area for many years . From nearer at hand
came the players from the Midlands, East Anglia and Manchester.
Everyone paid their own way , subsidies for sports were unheard of in
those days.
The
class was restricted to 1st Kyu and above by invitation, and at that time
you could have counted the number of Dan grades in the country pretty
easily. The class consisted of the very best players we had ,
John Newman, Sid Hoare , Doug Young ,'Pepper' Steptoe, etc. George
Wyman and Alf Grabher and Dennis Bloss were also popular and regular
visitors until they departed for Japan. But the mass of the
players were young eager men, I cannot remember any woman being present,
who made substantial sacrifices of time and money to promote their sport and
who eventually carried the word right back to the smallest clubs set in
village halls , empty shops, old church buildings and anywhere else they
could make a dojo .
It
is not my intention to suggest that the members of this class were the only
disciples willing to expend their time and effort on promoting Judo, but
these people do deserve a special mention for their persistence
and dedication at a time when sport was only just recovering after the war
and Judo was very much an unknown quantity .
In
closing I might just mention an interesting piece of information that came
my way very recently via the North Yorkshire Community
publications. Under sports facilities in North Yorkshire there are no Judo
clubs mentioned at all. I wonder what happened to the plans of
all those young people
Alan. R
.Menzies.
I can't
think of one good reason why you cannot run an e-mail site. Modern computer
software would effectively shield you from any unwanted mail. However much
success on your venture. A.R.M
| 
