Old friends passing away

In the space of a few short months, two people who I trained with at the Bridgwater School of Karate in the 70's and 80's have passed away. Even though I had not seen them for many years, both had stopped training eventually, the sense of loss is still very real. As one gets older your memory plays little tricks, where you tend to think that we are all as were in our 20's so old friends passing on comes as a shock.

Martin Coombs - Passed away 12th November 2019

Martin and I first met at Bridgwater (Technical as it was in those days) College on a day release Mechanics Course while both still at school. He helped lift a bench a load of us were moving that dropped on my foot. Happy days. The next time was when we both started training under Mike Cross at the Sydenham Community Centre and Chilton Trinity both aged 20 in 1974. We trained, graded and fought together over a number of years.

The Bridgwater School of Karate entered teams to UKKF/UKKW competitions and then EKA events. Martin, John Flanagan and I used to also go off to Open events together. Martin trained hard and fought hard which was the way in those days. I lost a tooth when Martin punched me in the mouth but told me it was obviously my fault as I should have blocked it! He was supposed to be punching Chudan at the time.

At his funeral on the 4 th December 2019, a packed St Marys Church, his passion for fishing and music was evident the music in was Going to California by Led Zeppelin, for Reflection it was Kooks by David Bowie and music out was Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd and a sign ‘Gone Fishin’. A good way to say goodbye Martin.

Trevor Williams - passed away 7th April 2020

When I started at the Bridgwater School of Karate, Trevor was one of the established senior grades, not yet a black belt but soon to get that rank. In fact it was he and Roger Martin who asked Mike Cross to start teaching at Bridgwater when he was teaching at Chard, only recently told that by Mike.

When he passed his Shodan in the UKKW and joined Mike as one of the only 2 Black Belts in the club it was the dream that we Kyu grades yearned for, this gave us that inspiration to emulate him.

Trevor was a very good at karate as a whole but also a very sharp fighter. His back kick was legendary in the club. You knew the Ushirogeri was going to come at some point. The trouble was reading it and then trying to block it with something other than your ribs.

He fought internationally against Holland as well as national competitions. As I write this, in a time of uncertainty, I do not know when the funeral will be however it will most likely be restricted on numbers. It would have been nice to have paid my respects.

Trevor was an inspiration to me and a charismatic character and I count myself lucky to have known him. Another keen fisherman, Gone Fishin.

Nick Smith. 8th Dan Kyoshi