Trials & Tribulations

One thing I have learned over the years is that the success of so much of what we do relies upon relationships and personalities.

When I first moved our dojo to St. Stephen's School, the Head Teacher was very much an open, forward-thinking 'maverick', who had recently been featured on BBC news having painted the school purple. They were very enthusiastic about hosting our club. The caretaker at that time was a mature gentleman called Jim. He was fantastic, he lived very close by and nothing was ever too much trouble for him, he and his wife would walk up together on the late summer evenings to lock-up and always engage in some friendly chat. Inevitably Jim retired, and a new caretaker started shortly after, named Nick. Nick was quite different being a middle-aged family man, originally from Merseyside, he held down another job as a cabbie. There were a few minor issues in the early stages of Nick taking over where he was a little late opening up during half-terms, but we got to know eachother better and ultimately I always had the sense that he was on our side.

Back in September of 2009 I received a phone call whilst going about my day-job, in a very busy and noisy corporate kitchen. Damien Jordan, the 'purple-thinking' Head of St. Stephen's, had moved on and the new Head was on the end of the phone. I experienced the tone of the call as quite confrontational, with an air of 'things are going to change around here'. There seemed to be an issue over us having access to the building during holidays and half-terms, something we had insisted upon when we started there and had been agreed. Predictably, the issue seemed to come down to money and whether or not somebody would be paid for working during these periods. Not being one to flinch, I was quite robust in my response, if they were going to change their conditions then we would most likely move the club. The lady's tone softened and there was even talk of us being invited to perform an assembly demonstration at the school. Predictably again, the invitation never materialised.

Ultimately, our friend Nick the caretaker quit. It was clear from our conversations that he felt that he and the new Head didn't get on and that he felt that he was now being asked to do too much. He apparently bought a carpet cleaning business, a going concern. Good luck to him!

The ripple-effect for the club was three consecutive training sessions cancelled by the school, who didn't seem to give a damn about the disruption that they were causing our dedicated students, all of whom had been working extremely hard in prepaation for gradings and a kata tournament. Unapologetic, they eventually offered some unacceptable alternatives to our usual times. They also had to call on the help of a neighbouring school's caretakers in order to offer this, and these were the same people that had locked the main gates on several occasions previously whilst my junior club had been in session, forcing one parent to vault the gate in order to come up and inform me!

Needless to say, the situation was untenable. I sent a final cheque in for the £800 rent outstanding that they'd suddenly remembered to invoice me for (having spent around £4000 there over the last three years), with a letter addressed to Sandra D'Warte (the new Head) explaining that we were no longer going to use the facilities as the recent and continuing events had been unacceptable. The cheque was promptly cashed, but Ms D'Warte has yet to grace me with a reply, or an apology.

Many people, including parents of my students and vendors of other venues, have expressed surprise and disappointment that a local school could be so unsupportive of a non-profit club that contributes so positively to the local community. What can I say? I can only share in the disappointment and sadness that one individual can seem to make such a difference to our fate.

This left us with the dilemma of finding a new venue for the club. The club cannot recommence until May 4th, when the prestigious Tonbridge School has kindly offered us use of their main sports hall. I can only hope that my small junior section hang in there until then. Annoying as it is, it's just a problem that will be overcome with trademark Kyokushin perseverance.