Ian Campion BGK 5th Dan (Chief Instructor)

Also by this time Derek and I had become very good and close friends and I was seen by him and often referred to as his apprentice. One on one training with Derek was invaluable and for several years, up until taking my 1st Dan I took my share of the beatings including a broken nose, broken jaw and a chipped tooth, all from the master.
He used to say “I’ve taught you all you know but not all I know”.

I would probably still be a 1st Kyu if it weren’t for Andrew’s persistent nagging to Derek to put me forward for Dan grade. It was a gruelling grading, monumental for me in that after being half killed in the kumite, I simply got fed up and scored ‘Right leg Ippon Jodan Mawashigeri’ on Andrew then did the same thing with the left leg on Derek. This was the only time I ever managed to succeed over Derek, the result was being sent off to the changing rooms for my fate to be decided.

Being awarded my Dan grade by Derek Lorrison was certainly one of greatest achievements of my life and his friendship will always be truly treasured but he gave me and many others much more than this.

I have too many memorable moments to entirely mention from my proud association with British Gendo Kai. Winning the NKA at 1st Dan and the first Lorrison memorial tournament are prominent. Those accolades where something I wanted, and felt that I could give back or do for Derek.

The parties at ‘Wado cottage’, Derek’s club house. I remember Paul Chapman 1st Dan being so drunk he fell in the piano and Mark Taylor 1st Dan, jousting on a motorbike, dressed as Harold the Great, not to mention me burning Alan Cain’s and Judith’s clothes because they wouldn’t get out of the bath !! The social side of Gendo Kai has been as rewarding and addictive as time spent in the Dojo.
McVickars buttocks after some vigorous dingo ringing were a sight to behold and what about riding through the house at Dunswell on a motorcycle with me as a pillion. Then there was the re-enactment of the gulf war using fireworks as munitions. Paul and I dug in inside Derek’s sauna and Alan Cain and Jonathan Horne on the garage roof (which collapsed under the weight)
Another time at “Wado” cottage, (inebriated) I was 30 feet up in the tree house I’d built for Derek’s daughter, Julia. I think that was with McVicar too (a bad influence obviously) we refused to descend despite the masters instructions. Within seconds I recognised the sound of a chain saw being started and Derek felled the tree with us in it.
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