Ritchie Dakin

My name is Ritchie Dakin. I live in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, England.
Currently 3rd Dan Lifetime member of WTSDA (Thank you Helen !)

I have had had a major interest in martial arts since the Bruce Lee era and I was a devoted fan of David Caradine in the Kung Fu series, I never really found a proper place in the physical side of martial arts for a long while, having had good looks at both 'hard' and 'soft' styles. I did make good progress in the 'spiritual' aspect, adopting a bias to the Taoist way of running my life and career. I eventually settled on the physical side of things when I found Tang Soo Do.
I trained long and hard and I achieved my first black belt in Tang Soo Do/ Soo Bahk Do, Moo Duk Kwan.

I have been teaching Tang Soo Do since 1992. My wife Helen (age secret !) 3rd Dan and daughter Anna (age over 21) 2nd Dan, help me run my classes, which we promote as a family affair.
In addition to my martial arts, I am training in the fields of stress management, meditation and relaxation and Korean Ki Gong. And most weeks you will find us all training in a Yoga class in the local area !
This web site may be of interest to you if you do not want to try full martial arts...Cardio Combat
Helen and I plan to create a 'retreat' somewhere in Britain and entertain paying guests in martial arts, relaxation, meditation, aromatherapy and good healthy food.

Helen Dakin

Currently 3rd Dan member of WTSDA

You could say a 'volunteer' into the ranks of Tang Soo Do, you need to ask Helen how she came to get her first dobahk !!

Anna Dakin

Currently 2nd Dan member of WTSDA

Started training at the ripe age of 7 and never looked back, not that her dad would let her !!

Update - Spring 2003 !!
 We have now finalised the purchase of a property in Italy !!
Based on what I have written above, not quite what we had planned, but the location, weather, food and atmosphere make this the ideal location for any future venture we might want to embark upon.
You can get an idea by visiting a tour of Casperia, Italy !

Update - Early 2004 !!
 Due to major changes in employment circumstances, Mr Dakin has a new business venture - please take a look at the new web site for Stress Kickers
We are organising group visits to Italy too - lots of nice training in an excellent environment
Email for further info !

In the mean time, I am now working as a 'consultant' on my own and also trying to get customers for my Indian Head Massage and Hopi Ear Candle treatments. And anything else I can do to enable us to fund our planned retreat - I'll 'retire' soon and become a real consultant then !

Update - Autumn 2007 !!
 Wow, where has the time gone !
We are in a nice new training location and most of the black belts have all gone off to uni, the front rows are looking a little nervous now !
Work seems to have overtaken everything, but we are still managing to keep the students on their toes.
Casperia is undergoing renovation - see the site for some pics, that will take me to my official retirement - then we can get back to the retreat side of things properly again

Anna is getting married - November 17th 2007, details can be found here !

When I'm not training ( which is not very often), my other main hobby is Bonsai, and I have a smallish collection of trees, some of which I have created 'from scratch' myself, and some I have bought 'ready made' and I display them in a Japanese style garden.

See some of my swords in detail

click an image
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