Burwell Aikido Club, Burwell

Burwell Aikido Club is a member of Aikido for Daily Life and affiliated to the British Aikido Board. We are a small friendly club who practice aikido in Burwell, Cambridge under Quentin Cooke sensei.

Class time:

Thursday between 19.15-21.15

Quentin Cooke, 7th Dan

I began to practice aikido in 1984, within the Ki Society of Great Britain, which was linked to Tohei sensei, but was headed up in this country by Kenneth Williams sensei, who was one of the original practioners of aikido in this country under Abbe sensei. Williams sensei eventually broke away and founded the Ki Federation of Great Britain, which I stayed with until 2000 having reached the rank of 4th dan.

At that point, being the creative art it is, I found that my own path required me to break away and explore new paths. I joined Denis Burke sensei (a former assistant of Williams sensei) and my brother Piers, who had founded the Isshinkai Association, which whilst in style was still principally based in Ki Aikido, allowed for a less conventional approach within the organisational structure. (I believe that if Aikido is for daily life, that our experience on the mat should match our experience off it and that therefore the rather rigid structures of a traditional Japanese organisation is not something we should seek to replicate).

In 2004,  I became affiliated to the Aikido Yuishinkai International (AYI) under Maruyama sensei were I was awarded the grade of 7th dan in 2011. In early 2017, I resigned from AYI to follow my own Aikido path. 

My brother and I founded Aikido for Daily Life in 2004. We chose our name carefully to reflect what we felt aikido is really about and have structured the group to be democratic and not hierarchical, to better reflect the culture in which we work.

I love my practice and study of aikido and believe it to be a powerful tool for improving the world we live in and my desire is to share it with as many people as I can.