Wantage Karate Club

Sponsorship from the United Kindom Atomic Energy Authority has enabled Wantage Shotokan Karate Club to design and buy cloth embroidered badges featuring the Club's motif. Permission was granted by The Vale of the White Horse Council for an emblem of King Alfred to be used in the design. King Alfred was born in Wantage in 849 AD at a time when the area was a thriving Saxon centre. The badge depicts the statue that stands in the town centre that commemorates his life and work.

The design also includes an accompanying Japanese kanji inscription 'Hado Ryu'. This refers to Wantage and means 'the place of the undulating stream'. Interestingly, as the reader may know Ryu also has the meaning of school or style, and is often associated with the martial arts. In the accompanying picture Sensei Paul Edwards is pictured receiving a cheque at a recent training session.