Alness Ki Society

New Self Defence Class
Classes will be taught by Sensei Roy Cliff 8^th Dan Aikido and Sensei Andrew Snelling 3^rd Dan Karate
Classes run on Wednesdays for 8 weeks cost £30 inclusive.
For further details phone Roy on 07856549252.
Start Date & Time 1^st March 2023 Time 7.0pm –8.0pm
Finish Date     19th April   2023  

The Alness Aikido Club was established over 40 years ago by Sensei Dick Hynds. 

The present clubhouse was built 30 years ago by Sensei Hamish Patterson and is one of the few purpose-built Aikido dojos in the UK.

Sensei Roy Cliff has been the senior instructor at Alness since 1999 and is the Chief Instructor for the British Ki Society in Scotland.

Alness Dojo

Classes
Mondays from 7.00 pm to 9.00 pm
Saturdays from 1.30 pm to 4.00 pm.

Mat Fees / Club fees
£5.00 per session

Contact Information
Sensei Roy Cliff
9 Robertson Court
Alness
IV17 0US

Tel: 01349 880473 or 07856549252

E-mail : alness@ki-aikido.org.uk

Alness Dojo

Instructor Biography

Sensei Roy Cliff
Sensei Cliff has practised the martial arts since 1960 when he started Judo at the Burton Judokwai, initially under Sensei J. Hayward.  In 1969 he was awarded his 1st Dan by Sensei O’Tani.  He also studied Atemi Jutsu under Sensei R Bleakman in Birmingham and Shotokan Karate, instructors were T. Ryan and D. Harvey. In the mid 1970’s he studied White Crane Style Kung Fu. The Sifu (instructor) was P. Bradshaw. While continuing his practice of Judo he also began to teach Aikido at Burton in 1963.

 In 1972 he began to study Aikido with the Aikido Union England and the British Aikido Association under Sensei Pat Stratford, later awarded an 8th Dan.  Sensei Stratford travelled from Coventry each week to teach a class in Burton. In 1980 he was awarded first Dan by Sensei Stratford.

In 1978 he attended a ten-day course with Koichi Tohei Sensei in Swansea which radically changed his approach to the martial arts.  He saw within Tohei Sensei’s techniques and teaching a completely new dimension to Aikido. On that course he met Sensei Philip Burgess, and started training with him once a week in Coventry, while still training with Sensei Stratford.  In late 1980 he decided to join the Ki Federation of Great Britain under Sensei Ken Williams who was at that time Tohei Sensei’s representative in the UK.  He began practicing Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido (Ki Aikido) under Sensei Burgess in Coventry, starting again as a white belt student. He achieved the rank of Shodan (1st dan) in 1982 and Nidan (2nd Dan) in 1985 under Sensei Williams.

Sensei Cliff joined the newly-formed British Ki Society in 1986, following the decision of Sensei Williams to leave the Ki Society. He attended a two-day seminar in London in 1987, taken by Tohei Sensei. The following year Snsei Cliff attended a seminar given by Maruyama Sensei at the National Sports Centre, Cardiff.

His first grade awarded by Doshu Yoshigasaki was Sandan (3rd Dan) in 1993. He moved the Scotland in 1999 and became Instructor at the Alness Ki Society. In 2021 he was made Chief Instructor in Scotland for the British Ki society.

His current grades are Hachidan (8th Dan) in Aikido (awarded by Shihan P. Burgess in 2023) and Okuden in Ki Development, awarded by the Doshu.

Sensei Duncan Henderson
Sensei Henderson first began training in judo and teaching kayaking at 17 in 1980. While in St Andrews he attended a seminar in 1989 in Aikido given by Senseis Rob and Anita Bonivert. Since then he studied a number of aikido styles before settling on Ki Aikido on moving to the Highlands with his family in 1999. He also picked up belts in Tae Kwon Do and judo.  He gained Shodan in 2008 with Shihan Burgess. He also studied karate under Sensei Ross and in 2017 graded as Shodan with Sensei Dave Hazard. In 2019 he graded Sandan Aikido with Doshu. He describes it as one of the best weekend’s training he has ever had. He continued to train over Covid. In 2021 he was graded as Okuden by Shihan Burgess and in 2023 obtained Nidan in Karate. He currently trains at Alness Dojo under Sensei Cliff.

He enrolled as a solicitor in 1987 in Scotland and 1995 in England. In that same year in England and Wales he qualified as a Solicitor Advocate (Higher Courts Criminal). Between 1992 to 1996 he served as a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF Legal Services being the first officer in that branch to win the SERE course prize at RAF Cranwell. Moving with the services meant he had to take martial arts where he could find them. In 1996 he was appointed as a Procurator Fiscal Depute in Glasgow before moving to the Highlands in 1999. He opened his own firm in 2002 being Inverness Legal Services for Criminal Advocacy. As part of his work he has both prosecuted and defended crimes of violence and cases involving offensive weapons.