Roy Brewster Sensei (on left) with Ron Bratton Sensei
Roy started Judo in 1963 and is not prepared to discuss his age. He first joined the Slough Judo Club and trained with Paddy Sullivan Sensei and in 1964 he joined the Masutaro Otani Society of Judo (M.O.S.J.) and trained at the 61 Club in Amersham with Don Elliott Sensei. Roy ran the club for a while after Elliott Sensei moved out of the area.
Roy then assisted the late Lou Jenkins Sensei of Chalfont Judo Club for many years and ran Kyu Shin Ryu for three years while the late Alan Carter Sensei was working in Canada.
When Jenkins Sensei closed his club Roy decided to open the Chalfont Judokwai in 1976 at the Chalfont Leisure Centre where it has remained until this day. In 1983 Roy opened a second branch at the Evreham Sports Centre in Iver.
Roy also taught Judo at the Chorleywood Girls School for the Blind. Once a month he would bring a minibus full of these students to the Chalfont club where they would throw the Chalfont students all over the place (to their considerable embarrassment). The reason? Because they relied upon their other senses to guide them.
Roy also studied Ju Jitsu in which he gained Black belt 1st Dan. As a consequence, he is qualified to provide weapons training in the use of Tonfa's, Sai, Nunchaku, Bo and Jo staff, Tanto and of course, the Katana. However, as a purely self defence system with techniques that do not allow a competitive element, Roy decided to concentrate on his Judo.
In March of 2008 Roy was graded to 4th Dan thereby becoming the highest grade in the county. He is qualified to teach seven out of the eight Kodokan Kata's. Roy also holds qualifications in BJC Judo Refereeing and is registered as a Martial Arts Commission Coach. Roy has received his training from Matsutaro Otani Sensei Kodakan 8th Dan and Akanori Hosaka Sensei 8th Dan Kodokan amongst others.
Other Activities
Over the years Roy has been a keen and active in many sports. His first sporting interest over a period of ten years was a junior/senior oarsman.
He has cycled all over the country and enjoys canoeing and skiing. As a result, it is sometimes hard to track down where he is at any point in time so we have considered fitting him with a small GPS transmitter.
Roy's current second sport after Judo is sailing. Several times a year he disappears to the Mediterranean and sails between the many islands soaking up the sun, food, wine and good companionship of his comrades. His remaining unfulfilled ambition is to sail around the world.
His other main interest is increasing his knowledge and to that end he is studying at college Spanish, German and French
To top it all, he still does some professional work as a decorator where he demonstrates his excellent Judo balance at the top of a ladder.
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