Sensei Ken Whittington 1953-2022

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Sensei Ken Whittington. Ken established Abergavenny Karate Club in the 1970s and he been the Chief Instructor there since that time. Ken was one of the most experienced, respected and knowledgeable Karate instructors in Wales and became the chairman of the Japan Karate Association-Wales a couple of years ago. 

 

Ken did some Judo training in the late 1960s and began training in Karate in 1970, traveling to Cardiff to train with Sensei Mike O Brien (the first person in Wales to achieve a black belt in Shotokan Karate). Throughout the 70s, Ken trained extensively with Sensei Enoeda and other leading instructors. He also trained with the Welsh squad and made trips to Liverpool to train with the elite British squad. 

 

Ken graded to black belt 1st Dan in 1977 and to 2nd Dan in 1979. In 1981 he captained the Welsh squad at the European championships. He retired from competition soon afterwards and concentrated on running the Karate Club in Abergavenny, passing on his extremely high level of knowledge and demonstrating his outstanding ability. Ken joined the Japan Karate Association – England in the very early stages and graded to 3rd Dan in 2005. He never lost his infectious enthusiasm for Karate and he continued to attend national and international courses until his recent ill health prevented this. 

 

Our thoughts are with his children, grandchildren wider family friends as well as all the Karateka who were fortunate enough to have known him. RIP Sensei.