Club History to date__--__by Sensei C. Byrne

'Total Urban Combat Concepts' is a martial arts club with a deep rooted history in the local area.  It was previously known just as the 'Atemi Jutsu Ryu' club as that was the principal discipline studied at the time.
I first stumbled across the club in the early 1980's when I was studying Atemi under the instruction of Sensei Bernie Jardine in Nantwich, Cheshire.  He had training associates who also taught Atemi in nearby Crewe so I went along to see what was going on. Twenty years later I am still there and still with lots to learn! There were three instructors who ran the Crewe club, known as 'ASLEF Atemi' (primarily as the venue used was the ASLEF working mens club), and they were :-

Sensei Dave Merrill - A man with many years experience in the Martial Arts, who had the honour of being graded by the founder of Budo of Great Britain, Sensei Reg Bleakman.  Sensei Merrill is still teaching at the club to this day.

Sensei Nigel Beech and Sensei Ben Reddock - Two good friends (and probably two of the hardest men I have met to date in the Martial Arts).  Sadly both instructors are now retired from active training.

The club moved to the Camm St. Gym in Crewe in the early 1990's whereupon I became one of its instructors.  In 2004, coinciding with the launch of this web site, the club was renamed 'Total Urban Combat Concepts' in order that the club could  continue to expand with knowledge from other instructors and other styles of Martial Art.  However the primary aim of the club is to expand our knowledge and interpretation of Atemi Jutsu Ryu, passing this on to a new generation of students.
Anyone out there with more appetite for the history of the club may also remember in the distant 1970's the 'Golden Dragon' school of Martial Arts, additionally some in the Crewe area may also still have memories of the 'Boys Club', all of which were forerunners of the club today.  The teachings of the club can be traced back to the Birmingham based Budo of Great Britain and Sensei Reg Bleakman (deceased), and through him to one of the finest Japanese instructors of his day (the 1950's) to come to England, his Sensei, Mr Kenshiro Abbe (see photo archive).

If anyone has more information they would like to add, or would like to discuss the clubs history please feel free to contact us as we are keen to create a full record of the history of the club and Atemi Jutsu as a whole.