Karate Instructors at Reading Karate

Senior Instructor: Nick Forgham 4th Dan

Nick started Karate in Walthamstow in London in 1987, at the age of 25, with the Croyland Karate Association. After passing his first three coloured belts he then moved to Flitwick in Bedfordshire, where he trained two to four times a week with sensei John Van Weenen of the Traditional Association of Shotokan Karate (TASK).

Being more interested in training than in gradings or competitions, he left the club five years later still as a Kyu grade (Brown belt) and moved to Thatcham in Berkshire. With the birth of his first child he ceased training for two years.

In 1994 he resumed training with sensei Malcolm Phipps at Reading University, and in 1996 passed his First Dan Black Belt. It was a bit overdue!

In 1997 he took over the Reading club, which was by now based at the Forest School in Winnersh. In 2001 he passed his Second Dan Black Belt, his Third Dan Black Belt in 2007, and his 4th Dan in 2012.

He lives locally in Reading and is currently studying to be a qualified referee for karate competitions.

Karate Senseis van Weenen (left) and Phipps (right) together

Assistant Instructor: Kelly Peat (1st Dan)

Kelly started karate in her early teens after her two brothers also started at the Reading Karate Club and delighted in trying out their moves on her! In the early years Kelly participated in internal competitions within the association, winning medals in individual and team events for the Reading Karate Club.

During school she used karate as one of her GCSE sport options and achieved the highest rating for the exam. Taking a break from karate while away at university and then travelling the world, Kelly returned to training and achieved her 1st Dan Black Belt in March 2007.

"Karate is amazing for stress relief from work, fitness, flexibility and it allows you to interact with people from all walks of life, ages and backgrounds. We get to train with some of the best instructors in the world and learn not only more about technical aspects of karate but also about real life techniques that will help you should you find yourself in a difficult situation."

Assistant Instructor: Tony Kelley (1st Dan)

Tony started training in the Kyokushinkai style of Karate in 1979 at the Gillette club in Brentford. He progressed fairly steadily to 2nd Kyu (first brown belt) but a combination of shift work, job changes and a general lack of focus and dedication (girlfriends, beer and clubbing!) meant that he stopped training altogether in early 1988.

There began a 19 year break from Karate training until October 2007 when his son Jack (who attended the Forest School) showed him a leaflet about the club and expressed an interest in going to the free lesson. However, Jack told him that he didn't want to go on his own, so being a good dad he put on a pair of trackie bottoms and a very very loose tee shirt (he'd put on a few pounds over the years!) and went along to the lesson. The rest, as they say, is history.

In Tony's own words "those first few lessons certainly showed me what I'd been missing all those years!! After passing my red and orange belts I decided to see how far I could take this and set myself a challenge to try to achieve black belt, something that I didn't achieve first time around. Having previous experience in another style certainly helped me to assimilate into our style of Shotokan Karate and the differences in technique gave me a greater appreciation of how we do things. Passing my 1st Dan black belt in December 2010 is certainly my proudest moment in Karate to date especially as I had just turned 49 years old! It proves that Karate has something for everyone of any age. It challenges and tests you and you never stop discovering new things, not only about Karate but about yourself. I've certainly discovered that you only get out what you put in!"