April 2025 Newsletter
- Apr 6
- 7 min read
Women's Self Defence Classes & New Combatives Class
Due to dwindling attendance it is with regret that we have made the decision stop running our women's only self defence classes each month. Sabumnim Taylor and Master O'Brien greatly enjoy these classes, despite all the cuts and bruises, and are very proud at seeing the women who attend grow in confidence and become fierce warriors. These sessions may well return in the future in a different format, perhaps a one off workshop that lasts a few hours etc so watch this space.
The women's self defence class will now be replaced with a monthly Urban Combatives class led by Master O'Brien. This will be very similar in terms of content but will be open to both men and women and will be purely focused on realistic self defence drills and scenarios. The realism element of this training will mean it will involve controlled aggression, swearing and verbal threats. As a result this class is only available to those aged 16 and above.
This will be a pay as you go session, costing £10, which will be open to everyone regardless of whether or not you are a Berkshire Martial Arts student. Spaces will be limited each month
One Month to go! - The Running Man
Sabumnim Taylor has done something stupid and signed himself up for the Bracknell Half Marathon on Sunday 11th May. He will be raising money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society and hopes to raise at least £500. If you would like to sponsor him, learn more about the MS Society or just follow his boring training updates then please head over to:
New Venues
In case you missed our email last week:
As you know we've been trialling some new venues through out March with a view of moving away from Brakenhale School due to the huge disruptions we face there 3 months of the year because of exams, the broken promises and often last minute changes and cancellations of bookings. For the past few weeks we have been trialling our Wednesday classes at Garth Hill College and our Saturday sessions at the new Buckler's Park Community Hub. We have now made our decisions regarding venues moving forward, we reached our decisions through discussing the options as an instructor team as well as asking for your feedback too, big thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the survey.
Garth Hill College, Wednesdays, 6pm-9pm
We really like this new hall. It's clean, the floor has only recently been redone and it is temperature controlled so no more frozen feet! Whilst it's approximately half the size of the Brakenhale Sports Hall the revised class timeable allows us to manage class sizes better to make best use of the space, plus there are no interuptions during exam season. No to mention the fact that you can actually hear what the intstructors are saying in this hall, which is always useful. It seems like a huge majority of you agree with 84% of people preferring Garth Hill over Brakenhale for our Wednesday sessions. The most common issue raised with this hall was it being too hot but I believe this was more of an issue early March when the temperature was up and down everyday and the hall was probably still set to "Winter" mode, the hall is temperature controlled so shouldn't get too hot even in the summer but if we do find it's too hot then I'm sure we can request a temperature adjustment.
As a result of the above we have decided to permanently move our Wednesday sessions to the Garth Hill hall, sticking with the current timetable of classes between 6pm and 9pm.
Buckler's Park Community Hall, Saturdays, 11am-1pm
This hall was a great find! Completely brand new, we are one of the first people to use it. Similar in size to the Garth Hill hall it is smaller than Brakenhale but makes up for it with excellent facilities, receiving lots of natural light and loads to do nearby with forest walks, park and cafe (soon) to keep parents and siblings entertained during classes. Opinion on this one was a bit more divided but at 62% the majority of people still prefer this hall over Brakenhale. Concerns around limited parking came up a few times, there is plenty of street parking nearby if needed but Buckler's Park have also stated that the car park is intended for users of the hall and they are monitoring the situation and will take action if necessary to ensure the car park is being used as intended. Classes start 30 minutes later at this hall due to Yoga taking place before our sessions but we don't see this as a major change, we'll also look to move our sessions earlier in the day if availability opens up in the future.
Whilst opinion is more split on this hall the majority of people prefer this hall, we really love it, Saturday sessions are affected a lot more at Brakenhale than Wednesdays' and the concerns around parking should hopefully be managed in the future, as such we have again decided to move our Saturday sessions to Buckler's Park on a permanent basis.
Class Sizes
With both halls being smaller in size than Brakenhale we will be managing class sizes more closely and making sure we are not over subscribing sessions. The 12pm Saturday class and 7pm Wednesday classes are already at capacity so we do not accept new trials in these sessions and students will not be permitted to move in to these classes without prior approval. We will also be monitoring more closely students on bronze and silver memberships to make sure they are only attending the sessions they are booked in for. If you wish to attend a different session to you're reguarly scheduled one then you must gain permission before hand or you may be asked to leave the class if it is one that is at capacity. Students on unlimited classes memberships can continue to attend any sessions they would like.
Grading Days
As we have now cancelled all sessions with Brakenhale School they are no longer prepared to hold our monthly slot open for our grading days. This was to be expected and not a surprise. We will still be aiming to keep our grading days at Brakenhale on the last Sunday of each month and at the same times as normal, however this will depend on hall availability and won't be confirmed until the beginning of the month (this month's grading is unchanged). Due to us now booking our grading days on an ad-hoc basis please be prepared that grading dates, times and venues may fluctuate each month though we will ty to keep this to a minimum if possible, it is important that students pay close attention to the grading arrangements each month to avoid mistakes. We will look at our grading processes further down the line if these changes cause too many issues.
We're hopeful that everyone is happy with these changes as we honestly believe it is the best decision for the school and for our students. If you have any questions or concerns though please reach out to one of us.
Combatives Class
The next combatives class is:
- 9am, Sunday 27th April, Brakenhale School. Currently 19 places remaining. Click here to book!
These classes are open to everyone regardless of whether or not they are a Berkshire Martial Arts student, however there is a minimum age of 16 and no spectators are permitted.
What's on?
If you have any upcoming events or activities you'd like to make Berkshire Martial Arts students aware of please email the details over to jason@berkshiremartialarts.co.uk and we will add it to the next newsletter.
New Belt Ranks!
Congratulations to all the below students who successfully passed their latest grading and received their new belt ranks
Top Attendance!
Well done to the below students with the highest attendance last month.
Juniors - Under 13 years old
Seniors - Over 13 years old
This Month's Grading
This month's colour belt grading will be held on Sunday 27th April at Brakenhale School. Further details will be provided to eligible students the week before the grading. The day will run to the approximate schedule below:
9am - Combatives Class
10am - Black belt Academy Class
11am - Grading Group 1
12pm - Grading Group 2
All names below are eligible to grade this month and should have received an email confirming their eligibility. Please check your spam/junk folders if you have not received your email. To secure your place in the grading we must receive a completed colour belt grading registration form and payment by Friday 18th April.
Eligible Students
Aditya Puthran
Alexander Harris
Alisha Aziz
Andrew Lunn
Anita Puthran
Anson Lau
Bogdan Jentimir
Caiden Taylor
Charles Wakely
Chido Plunkett
Erica Rodrigues
Esme Attwood
Evie Bartaby
Finlay Bartaby
Gabriel Jones
Georgia Coyne
Gracie O'Brien
Gustas Kackauskas
Harish Gottipati
Hayden Cowling
Henry Roberts
Jack Collins
Jaden Lau
Josie Lander
Kenisha Ghotey
Logan Bates
Lola Foord
Luna Rus
Maximilian Wakely
Nathan Hounsome
Oliver Plunkett
Onel Ranaweera Vitharana
Raymond O'Brien
Riley Njoh
Ruben Ford
Ryan Crane
Tekare McKenna-Stevens
Tia Meades
Yusuf Shaikh
Yuvein Ranaweera Vitharana
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