Rachel, the sensei, was extremely proud of the fighting (Dunkirk) spirit, for almost a full house of students from far & wide made it to the last naginata practice of 2010 in London, held just before Christmas.
White out - snow falls at the Britannia Leisure Centre
Folks had battled in adverse snowy weather conditions, from York, Surrey, Essex, Middlesex and Japan…while Paul walked and stumbled in from around the corner. We were absolutely delighted to see the return of two popular students now living in Okinawa, Japan and who had luckily just returned the day before, before Heathrow airport chaos shut the airport down.
Despite the warmth of the hall, and late arrivals due to the adverse snow weather, everyone got stuck in for what should have been a 4½ hour extended practice. The group was a huge range of ability, new students on their second or third time mixed with experienced dan grades.
In the dojo, nice and warm...
Unfortunately the locally living staff at the sports hall were less robust in their spirit, and kicked out everyone in the sports centre early “due to the adverse weather”, so our last extended Christmas Bash of the year, was cut short by two whole hours, much to the disappointment of students who had bravely fought late trains, and snow covered roads.
This made not only covering the fundamentals of shikake-oji (kata) and bogu practice rushed, but teaching of technical points over four hours, obviously didn’t happen as Rachel had planned in her mind.
With heavy heart we all left early, into the snow, and an impromptu snow fight between two students showed spirits were still high, despite everyones’ disappointment at the Christmas session having ended early.
Preparing for snow-geiko
We all departed for the local pub, and waited patiently for food (as their Chef had got stuck in snow…) and the usual banter and good nature of Naginata players won the day.
We all look forward to 2011 with the current students, visitors,”Japanese learning English for a year”, and Welcoming new potential Naginata students.
The girls
The guys
Before our informal Christmas meal at the local Baring Pub.
