Leanne receives a medal.

The infants have had a really busy month, training hard for their grading, which they all passed with flying colours. This was Pauls Smiths first grading as a dad/instructor and I think he was more nervous than his daughter Emily. This was probably the best grading I have seen the infants do in many years, a really big well done to you all.

Leanne deserves a special mention this month after receiving a medal for achieving all her stamps on her achievement card.

Also another thanks to Carl Smith, who I have mentioned previously, Carl is a Friday night junior (Emily's BIG brother) who helps out in the infants class. THANK YOU :)

junior grading.

The juniors are also working well toward their next belt's, I am sure they have noticed that Sensei Andy and I are picking up the pace with their fitness, putting them through a little fitness test in every lesson, keep up the good work, some of your press ups would put a few adults to shame. Also do not forget to learn your Japanese terminology - or you will be punished.

The intermediates have given me much to write about, not only have they worked their socks off for their grading, but more impressively a number of them put themselves forward for the adult induction weekend - which for those of you have participated will no is no mean feat - after a long day in the dojo, an evening in the pool and an early morning stroll (including another dip in a slightly cooler pool known as The River Ouse) they worked fantastically as a team and you could see their confidence grow with each passing minute of the day.

This was Brandie's second Induction weekend so a big well done to her for subjecting herself to it all again. Congratulations to you all, I am sure you all have a great sense of achievement after the weekend and your instructors and Soke were very proud and impressed with the way you performed.

Keep up the good work, I hope to report on a successful grading after Christmas.

Intermediates.	A well earned breakfast.

Leanne receives a medal.

At the beginning of November a number of us went to Cambridge to partake in Kyoshi Paddy's Judo competition, with only a slim grasp of the rules (and I mean very slim) we jumped in with both feet and did not come away disappointed. Everyone who took part came away with a trophy, some with two. Honbu's representatives were as follows:

• Sensei Andy H - GOLD male adult set weight category
• Will - BRONZE male adult set weight category
• Thomas Hassey - GOLD Junior Boys set weight category
• Grady - SILVER juvenile Boys set weight category
• Megan Hassey - GOLD juvenile girls set weight category, and GOLD junior girls set weight category

Welcome to Novembers instalment of the Honbu report. Apart from the usual mad rush to sort out Christmas, November has also been a time of sickness for most people I have come into contact with (maybe I'm causing it!). Even as I write this report I am coughing up what looks like many small furry animals. For this reason I will be glad to move into December with a clean bill of health.

In a strange twist of events I have actual news to impart to the readers of this page! This is not a position I am put in on a regular basis, so I please bare with me!

Everyone chipped in when Soke lost his contact lens. Earlier this month, Kyoshi Paddy Swallow hosted the first EVER Ishin Ryu Judo championships in Cambridge. Now although we had little to no knowledge of Judo rules, we accepted Kyoshi's kind invitation to attend. There were roughly 9 people who entered the tournament for Ishin Ryu Ju-Jitsu, a mix of adults, juniors and an intermediate. It goes without saying that many of us were nervous as this was not a situation we were used to being in. I also think that most of us thought that we were going to be disqualified quite early for rules infractions (no fish hooking!). From early on it was clear that this was not going to be the case! Grady Patten (son of Will) was the first of us to be called up, followed by Megan, Thomas and Jacob Freshwater. Suffice it to say with a bit of Ishin Ryu fighting spirit, Grady came away with a silver medal, Megan came away with two gold medals (show off), Thomas came away with gold in his category and Jacob narrowly missed out and received silver. They were all fantastic! Next it was the turn of the adults. Honbu had two adults entered, Will Patten (father of Grady) and me. I was up first in the middle weight division and Will came next at heavy weight. I came away with the gold and Will was awarded the bronze. I thought Will was fantastic! He had only been training with us for a few months but what a difference a few months makes! Anyway all of our students came away with at least one medal to show for their efforts. I just wanted to say congratulations to all that entered and I would also like to thanks Kyoshi Paddy for putting on a fantastic tournament! We look forward to next year! The Honbu students with their Judo medals. Our intermediates scoffing into their well deserved breakfast after their nature walk on Sunday.

I will move quickly on to this month's induction weekend. This was an important one for Honbu as we had an unusually large group of students attending. The induction weekend is always a special weekend for everyone concerned and this one was no exception. From Honbu we had "the Blackwells" and Will, with five of our super intermediates thrown in for good measure, Jacob, Ben, Sarah, Jack and Brandie. I must say that they all did their dojo proud! Simon, Caroline and Will were solid all throughout the weekend, never giving up and always giving 110%(as expect from a Honbu student). The real success of the weekend came from our intermediates. They all worked their socks off and considering they are all round the 13 year old mark, showed a great maturity and understanding for what Ishin Ryu is all about. I think it's fair to say that many adults don't grasp the basic principles. This was the first induction weekend where the intermediates were given their own tasks away from the adults and they came through with flying colours. I think I heard Brandie asking when the next one is going to be, that will be her third in a row! Early start for the young ones! The Honbu induction brigade.

Reah was mesmerized by the size of Simon's foot. I wanted to make a special mention to a couple of newly adopted Honbu Students, Renshi Steve and Sensei Laura Peil. Now for those who don't know Renshi and Sensei are probably the most dedicated affiliates Ishin Ryu has in the Renmei. They are on most courses going and the punch line is that they live over in Worcestershire, 2-3 hours away. They have recently decided to attempt something that many have tried and all have failed. They want to learn and grade their way through the Ishin Ryu Syllabus. As with everything else they do they have grasped the bull by the horns and have made the journey to Honbu three times this month. They make their way over for Friday night training, stay overnight and are in the dojo on Saturday as well. I really can't say enough about them, their dedication and spirit is second to none in my book and I wish them all the best. One of my favourite quotes comes to mind when I think about what they are doing, "if you really want to do something, you will find a way, if you don't you will find an excuse." All I can say is that Renshi Steve and Sensei Laura are finding "a way" and that is the reason why I believe they will succeed.

Will has his "I'm better than you!" face on. Just a quick mention for Reah Sloman who has been training down at Honbu again. As always it is great to see Reah putting the effort in. I look forward to her blue belt in December. As for Simon, Caroline and Will, they are more than ready for their gradings as they know their syllabus back to front. I think they will make me proud on the day!

That's it for the wintery month of November at Honbu. December is already packed full with a trip to Switzerland, senior grade training and the national gradings held in Borehamwood. With all my weekends full until Christmas I really need to get the all the presents sorted now . Have a great December and I will see you at the national gradings. Andrew Herbert Sensei