Whitley Karate Club

Well so here we are, after 51 years in the same Community Centre it will be our final session tonight.
It’s been an unbelievable journey and some amazing memories along the way.
Lifelong friendships and great achievements over many different times and events.
Let’s give it one more blast and to quote the boss I suppose we’ll be talking about glory days!

It is with much sadness that, after 51 years of training at the South Reading Community Centre, we will be closing the club. Our last session will be on Thursday 12th March.
This has not been an easy decision to make and there are many reasons for this, a lot of it is the financial situation we find ourselves in with prices increasing at a rate we cannot cover.
As most of you will be aware none of the Whitley instructors make any money from their teaching and we have always tried to keep prices as low as possible for the kids of Whitley.
We have been on an incredible journey over those years, a family club that achieved far more than we ever thought possible.
There has been a fantastic range of students that have achieved Black belts, won kata and kumite (medals) at all levels both male and female, and hit whatever personal goals they were aiming for.
Not forgetting the friendships forged over the years and the ups and downs of club life that have been a big part of our world.
A huge thank you to all those who helped instructing, the brilliant secretaries who ran the club for us but most of all to the kids of Whitley who it has been our pleasure to train with all those years.
We apologise to those still training and we do have options for those who wish to carry on their Karate journey.
The two sessions in March will be free of charge to all.
Our last session will be on Thursday 12th March both Colin and Brad have said they will be there and I’d like to invite as many of you as possible to come and say a fond farewell to our dojo after 51 years, nothing lasts forever but we certainly have given it a good go!
Regards
Steve, Colin and Brad.

A beautiful cake made for us for our final session of the year.
Next year will be our 52nd year of training at
the Community Centre in Whitley Reading.

Hi all,

I wanted to inform you all of some changes to our club.

Mainly regarding prices, once again the Council have increased their hall hire by a significant amount, I have taken advice from other HKK members who run clubs and we are looking to go to the same system many others use.

We will therefore ask as many members as possible to start paying by direct debit. The new charges will be:

Adults= £28 per calendar month

Juniors = £22 pcm.
If there are 2 members of the same family it will be a joint amount of £40 pcm

Paying as a casual trainer, or one-off session, will be £8 adults and £6 under 16’s.

Can we request that as many of you as possible start this on 1st September. Please let us know once you have set this up. And please message us if you need the direct debit details.

As you know we are a family run club and non profit. We try to keep prices as low as possible and only increase prices when we have no option.

Thank you for you continued support of our club.

FAREWELL TO COLIN

So last night was Colin’s final training session at Whitley, a kids fitness session and a few ex regulars and usual students showed up to wish him well as he is moving away.

We have been training in the same centre in Whitley for over 50 years, Colin and I have been running the Club along with a whole host of top class instructors since our Dad retired in the early 80’s.
Colin leaves a great legacy of students behind, many have gone on to National success representing not just our Club but also Higashi Karate Kai in Kumite and Kata.
Colin himself gained many trophies in a long career as an intelligent and composed fighter.
But his skill as an instructor with a superb technical brain and the ability to bring out the best of students is what we will always remember him for.
He has been the heartbeat of the Club for many years and we will all miss him, none more than me.

It is with much sadness that we see him move on and there were a few tears last night.

We wish him and Anne all the luck in the World as they embark on their new venture.

Cheers Bro it’s been an unbelievable experience and an honour to have trained and fought alongside you.

CLUB ANNOUNCEMENT: PRICE ADJUSTMENT

This year marks the 50th anniversary since Whitley Karate Club was first founded.

We are proud to have remained a not-for-profit club, serving the local community for all of those 50 years - and we will continue to do so.

We are also proud that we've been able to hold our prices at the same level for well over 10 years, despite recent year-on-year increases in the cost of hiring the hall.

We've been informed that the hall hire rates are going up yet again in 2025. This will see a 44% cost increase in just the last 2 years.

We've therefore had to make the tough decision to finally increase the training fees by £1 per session, to ensure we can cover this increase in costs.

From 1st March 2025, the new yraining fees will be:

- Juniors (under 16) = £5 per class
- Adults = £6 per class

Concessions:
Weekly family rates will continue to be capped for immediate family members.

While this increase is essential for the sustainability of the club, we have tried to keep the impact on students and supporting families to an absolute minimum. We feel the new prices are still at highly competitve rates vs many other classes / activities. We hope you feel the same way.

New joiners
We always welcome new joiners. If anyone is interested in trying out the club or looking for a new hobby, please do get in touch. The first lesson is free and there are absolutely no obligations to sign up to further classes.

Please help us spread the word.

Thank you for your ongoing support.