It all started at Queen Mary College, at the University of London in the 1980s. Donal G Weir, a senior member of staff at QMUL invited Tony Neves, a postgraduate student at the university, and the instructor of the university’s Aikido club, to come along as a guest to his own aikido club in Epsom one evening. Up until that point, the QMUL club had trained in very traditional Aikido, as taught by Morihei Ueshiba Sensei, the founder of Aikido (1883-1969).
Tony went along to Don’s club and was amazed and very impressed by what he found. All the basics of aikido were there, but the style was much harder, faster and more direct – altogether a much more practical form of self-defence. This sat very comfortably with Tony’s love of other more direct martial arts styles (he also holds black belts in full contact karate, kickboxing and kendo). From that day on, Tony continued to train under Don – and the QMUL club suddenly found itself learning a completely different style of aikido! (Find out more about our style here).
The Epsom Club boasted a number of outstanding instructors, particularly Vic Hawkins and Ron Walters, whose technical ability, patience and teaching style were exceptional.
Weir Sensei himself is a remarkable individual who was formerly a Captain in the Royal Marines. He trained under Thomas Makiyama Sensei (a student of Gozo Shioda Sensei, who was one of Morihei Ueshiba Sensei’s most senior students, and the founder of Yoshinkan Aikido). Crawley Aikido Club can therefore trace its lineage directly back to the founder of aikido.
When Tony left QMUL, he handed over the club to Rick Cousins, moved to this area and set up a self-defence course for women in Horsham in 1987. This soon evolved into Crawley Aikido Club, established in 1988.
Stewart Rolland, another former student of the Epsom and Ewell Aikido Club alongside Tony, now runs the Epsom and Ewell club, as Weir Sensei has now retired. Tony, Stewart and all their instructors continue to preserve Weir Sensei’s practical approach and exceptionally high technical standards in their teaching.