Sadly Alan Thomas passed away last week due to pancreatic cancer

Alan was a team player who assisted me at many of my clubs.
A great supporter of ESKA at Gradings/courses/championships and encouraged many students to attend social gatherings where he also got to know a lot of the ESKA family.

Alan first started karate with me at the Sandy Club around 30 years ago where he graded to Intermediate Dan Grade before having to stop training mainly due ill health.
But over 6 years ago (and after a gap of over 20 years) a blast from the past Alan turned up unexpectedly one evening at the Stevenage club and told me as he was now in his late 50’s and was suffering from a debilitating illness, his goal was to achieve his black belt before it was too late and would I help him, I of course said ‘yes’ – so we made a plan.

Two and a half years later on the 29/04/2017 Alan now being over 60 and on his second attempt passed his Shodan grading.
He had to work extremely hard to overcome the pain he was in. Alan was an incredibly tenacious person with a lot of grit, and I think showed other students that if he could do it they could do it.
To people that knew him, he was a character with great respect and always very enthusiastic. He had opinions on everything and wasn’t afraid to express them.

As Luke told me recently “Alan could certainly pack a punch”.

Rest in peace Alan

Sensei