Berkshire is in the South East of England and is a Royal County. Berkshire is based next to London, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. Its major towns including Reading, Slough, Windsor, Maidenhead, Bracknell and Ascot.
Reading
A Little About Reading
Reading is a large town, in Berkshire, situated 30 minutes from London. It has a growing multi cultural population and good infrastructure!
Reading was established around the 6th Century by the Saxons. Orginally called Reada ingas, which means People of Reada, Reading was a great location as it is next to two rivers (Kennet and Thames). This meant the wool and other goods could be transported to Reading via the rivers, therefore it a prosperus town early on. Reading also was a good pit stop between London and the West country as it used to be a much longer journey from London to Bristol!
The population in Reading is now about 150,000 people.
Reading Zenshin Aikido Club
The Reading Zenshin Iwama Ryu Aikido Club is in Reading in Berkshire. The club is run by Sensei John Garmston and Sensei Peter Hagger.
Please visit the Reading Aikido website for more details:
Reading Aikido
A Little About The Club
Reading Zenshin Club has been up and running for about 3 years and is run by Sensei John Garmston (2nd Dan) who has been training in aikido for over 23 years and Sensei Peter Hagger (2nd Dan) who has been training for over 14 years!
The club has three training nights at present: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays (see website for details).
Reading Bukukan Aikido Club
This club is run by Sensei Steve Dix (2nd Dan) on Monday nights.
A Little About The Club
More information about this club to follow.. mean while please see Bukukan
Slough
A Little About Slough
Slough was orginally in Buckinghamshire, placed on the Great West Road between London and Bristol. The small villages such as Britwell, Chalvey, Cippenham, Colnbrook, Langely, Poyle, Upton, Wexham and Burnham now make up the suberbs of Slough. Slough's first recorded name was in 1196 and was then called Slo, it changed to Sloo in 1336 and Le Slowe in 1437. The name proberly stemmed from the fact that there were various "Sloughs" (wetlands) in the area.
In the 1920's the Slough Trading Estate became the first such Industrial Estate in the WORLD!
Slough became part of the Royal Berkshire in 1974 when there was a local government reorganisation.
Slough Cho Wa Dojo Aikido Club
The club is run by Paul Shepherd 4th Dan on Monday nights.
A Little About The Club
The club is a part of the United Kingdom Aikikai who are affiliated to the Hombu Dojo in Japan.
Bracknell
A Little About Bracknell
The earliest signs of habitation around Bracknell was 'Caesar's Camp', a hill fort built by the Celts between 200BC and 40AD, and situated about two miles south of Bracknell.
Bracknell is, though, mainly a new town which was mostly built in the 1960's. The name Bracknell derives from Braccen-Heale, which was mentioned in the 10th Century in an Anglo-Saxon charter, meaning "Bracken covered Secret Place".
The town has been used for some movies where movie producers have wanted to depict the high-rise modern buildings of New York without the expense.
There are only a handful of old buildings left in Bracknell, and they are mainly some of the olds pubs.
Bracknell Aikido Club
This club is run by Henry Ellis (5th Dan) who is the Principal Coach for Ellis School of Traditional Aikido.
A Little About The Club
The Club trains on Mondays for Juniors and Fridays for Seniors.
More details coming soon
Maidenhead
A Little About Maidenhead
Maidenhead was established in 1582 but was then called Maydenheth which came around because a new timber Wharf (or Maiden Hythe) was built alongside the Bath Road (A4). The name Maidenhead started to be used from 1724.
Maidenhead started to grow with the arrival of the railway, as it is quite close to London, people realised they could communte from Maidenhead using the iron road.
Maidenhead Dojo Aikido Club
This club is run by Mr Jack Poole.
A Little About The Club
This club is part of Shinwakai Aikido organisation. Training is on Tuesdays at 8pm.
