About Us

There are 3 Aikido Yuishinkai clubs in Aberdeen which are all part of the same organisation, Takagashirakai. For students / staff at The Unversity of Aberdeen we have the AU Club, for students / staff at The Robert Gordon University we have the RGU Club and for everyone else we have what we refer to as the Town Club.

 

The Town Club

The Aberdeen Aikido Yuishinkai Club's main training venue is St. Stephen's church hall on Powis place. The Town Club was founded on the 24th of April 2006 by Mike Haft.

The Town Club is open to everyone who wants to learn, we train on a Monday (19.30-21.30) and a Thursday (19.30-21.30) at St. Stephen's church hall, Powis place, Aberdeen.

The club is organised and managed by the following club officers:

Dojo Leader & Senior Instructor	Jo Duncan	1st Dan	Responsible for overseeing all teaching in the club
Club Secretary & Instructor	Andy Kenney	1st Dan	Responsible for the day to day administration of the club
Club Treasurer & Instructor	Wullie Allan	1st Kyu	Responsible for managing the club finances
Junior Instructor	Philip Rhind	2nd Kyu	Junior instructor, not club officer

 

The AU Club

The AU Club is exclusively for students, staff and alumni (former students) of The University of Aberdeen, we train on a Sunday (17.00 - 19.30) and a Wednesday (20.30-22.30) at The Aberdeen Sports Village during term-time only.

The AU Club is organised and managed by the following club officers:

Dojo Leader & Senior Instructor	Jo Duncan	1st Dan	Responsible for overseeing all teaching in the club
Club Captain & Junior Instructor	Mary-Jane Marvesley	1st Kyu	Responsible for the day to day administration of the club
Club Treasurer	Andrew Manson	2nd Kyu	Responsible for managing the club finances
Club Secretary	Ben Green	4th Kyu	The responsibilities of the secretary are a mystery
Club Social Secretary	Position Open		Responsible for organising social events

 

The RGU Club

The RGU Club is exclusively for staff / students / alumni (former students) of RGU, we train on a Wednesday (20.30-22.00) at The RGU Sport facility at Garthdee in Studio 1.

The RGU Club is organised and managed by the following club officers:

Dojo Leader, Senior Instructor & Captain	Atholl Buchan	1st Kyu	Responsible for overseeing all teaching in the club

 

Club History

Mike Haft moved to Aberdeen in January 2004 to start his PhD, prior to this he had been the instructor at the Imperial College Aikido club which he had set up in 2002. After finding out that the current aikido club at the university was effectively shutting down he was given permission to begin a new club at the university.

A little later the club had become a great success, however only students / staff at Aberdeen university could train there. The solution was to create an independent club in Aberdeen that anyone from the area could train at and which would act as the mainstay of the university club, providing it with instructors and overseeing its university committee officers to ensure they were doing a good job. This new club was opened on 24th April 2006 and found itself moving, in July of that year, to the Beach Leisure Centre, where they still practice at now. One night quickly went to two nights of training a week and the 'town club' as it became known eventually surpassed the university club in terms of attendance.

Not long after this Atholl Buchan (one of the instructors who had started at the Aberdeen Uni club in 2005) started a post-grad course at RGU, when he did so he decided to try and establish a university club there and with Mike's help he was able to do so in time for the freshers intake in 2007.

Mike eventually left Aberdeen in 2008 and moved to the Lake District in Cumbria, leaving Jo Duncan as dojo-cho of the Aberdeen dojo.

In 2009 Mike left Banyu Hatten Aikido, he was shortly followed by his students at Aberdeen which led to the formation of the organisation Takagashirakai which is an independent organisation affiliated with Aikido Yuishinkai and a member of