Martial arts school marks 50 years

A FIXTURE of Ballarat’s martial arts community is having a milestone birthday later this year, with previous students and instructors invited to celebrate.

Ballarat and Western Victorian Taekwondo is turning 50 years old this year and current members are preparing to acknowledge the anniversary with a reunion event in March.

Instructor and secretary Simon Andrews has been with the non-profit since 1995 and said he’s excited to reminisce with past members.

“It’s really important for us to put this on as it means a lot to the club,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to catching up with people we’ve trained with in the past and seeing where they’re at in life and to discuss those times. It’ll be a casual sort of catchup.

“We want as many former head instructors, head instructors, and students as well as current members to come to this. We’re expecting between 20 to 30 people so far.”

Of the organisation’s five decades, head instructor Ron Parkinson has been a member for 48 years and has served in his role for nearly 30 years.

He said to reach half a century is an enormous achievement for a martial arts academy.

“It’s actually quite rare,” he said. “You see some that will last as long as the transient teachers who’ll come through the town, but I’ve always been in Ballarat so it’s kept going.

“I think one of our strong points is that we’ve been able to teach kids with autism which some martial arts schools won’t teach.”

Currently with about 10 to 15 students and instructors, members meet on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings for training.

Established in 1974 by Melbourne-based martial artist John Le Busque, training was previously held at the former YMCA building at Camp Street before moving to several locations including a Sturt Street site.

“We outgrew everything back then,” Mr Parkinson said.

The organisation is currently based at the Victorian Railways Institute Hall where members have operated for 11 years.

The anniversary event will begin at 12pm at the North Star Hotel on Saturday 23 March.

Those wishing to join Ballarat and Western Victoria Taekwondo can do so via the group’s Facebook page or by emailing [email protected].