Geoffrey Calmon passed away

It’s with great sadness that we inform all the federal members that the student Geoffrey Calmon of YKKF England, laudable student of Barry Mitchell Shihan, has passed away. He has represented for many years our international  work with the disabled.

Geoffrey was respected by all at the YKKF. His karate meant a great deal to him and he truly appreciated that, wherever he was within the YKKF, people never saw the disability, only the person.

Achieving his 2nd dan in Okinawa Goju-Ryu Karate was a testimony to the person he was. Everything he learnt, especially in terms of movement, was learnt at a painstaking rate, one move at a time, until he got it right.

Geoffrey could be crude but never realised that he was being crude and always appreciated being corrected. He was well-informed, knowledgeable and very intelligent. In spite of his stammer, he was very articulate and had a huge capacity to laugh at himself.

Geoffrey was a role-model for us all and he will be very much missed.