Newmillerdam Karate Club was opened in 1968 by local resident Don Snaith who had been a student of Tatsuo Suzuki (one of the worlds leading Wado instructors) and was encouraged to go out and pass on what he had been taught. At the time there were very few people practicing Karate in the area as it had only recently been brought into the country. Over time the club became well established and more and more people came to learn. In the early 1980’s Don retired and the club was left in the hands of his longest serving and most senior student Ann Walker. Over the years under Ann’s leadership the club went from strength to strength and many of the students who had been taught at Newmillerdam went on to start their own clubs and so Ann formed a local association of clubs known as WYSOK (West Yorkshire Schools of Karate & Oriental Arts). The club continued to be successful and over the years our students have won countless awards at local and national tournament. Ann went on to be very successful in the martial arts and became one of the only women ever to be awarded the rank of 7th Dan which was a truly remarkable achievement. Unfortunately following a long illness we lost our instructor Ann in April 2014 but the club continued under the leadership of her son Shane Walker who has been a member of the club since the late 1970’s. Today we teach traditional Karate (Wado Ryu), Mu-Chindo, Kobu Jutsu (Weapons), Ju Jitsu, Ground Fighting and of course Tournament Fighting as well as many more to both adults and children of all ages. We also have a separate p*e-wee club available for the younger children. We have over 45 years experience in teaching Martial Arts and have been successful in training a great number of people to Black Belt and beyond, many of whom are still training with us to this day. All of our instructors are also members of the West Yorkshire Schools of Karate & Oriental Arts (WYSOK) and of course affiliated members of NAKMAS (The Governing Body for Martial Arts in the UK). They are also CRB checked for your peace of mind as well as first aid trained which is regularly refreshed. Thank you for visiting our page. Feel free to have a look around and if you have any questions just contact us or better still come along and give it a try….
