We’d no idea we had so many formidable employees and we’re wondering if we should now be feeling a whole lot safer or very, very scared!
It seems that martial arts run through the blood of quite a few of our co-workers and their families: – take for example Katie Thorpe, left, a registered social worker with CAST – our community advice and support team.
Her manager, Sara Ogden-Thomson describes her as ’racing through her belts’ in Tang Soo Do, an ancient Korean martial art whose roots date back 2,000 years.
Katie is learning alongside her two children, Alice and Ethan and since achieving her green belt in October has signed up to become a trainer.
The photo below right kind of gives the game away, since the guy’s name is emblazoned in yellow. Yes, it’s our buildings manager, Phil Costin, dressed slightly differently than usual.
It’s taken from an article in martial arts magazine from February 1989 depicting his journey from footballer to professional ju-jitsu sensei.
The little cutie pictured in her karate gear is none other than Rebecca, aged five, daughter of Katie’s CAST colleague and senior social work practitioner, Adele Whitehead (see front page). Rebecca is a Pee Wee Warrior and known as the “Smiling Assassin”.
She recently received two gold medals and a silver medal in her karate competition and was awarded her white/orange
Last, but absolutely by no means least, meet one of our newest Fed recruits – 17 year old, Eve Holdsworth – who joined us about three months ago as a sessional worker on our summer children’s play camp.
She helps run occasional Sunday children’s groups when she can fit it around training. Eve is currently is the England squad for karate and has represented England at both the European and Commonwealth championships achieving bronze at the latter. This year she was placed first at both the English and British Championships.
