A black belt grading was held at the home dojo of Sensei John Carlyle, chief instructor of the association.

Vanessa Porter from the Harrington dojo also passed her test.

Elizabeth is based at the Wingham dojo and has been training for seven-and-a-half years while Vanessa has been training for four-and-a-half years.

Both were promoted to shodan (first dan black belt). This brings the total number of actively training black belts in the association to nine.

The black belt grading was conducted prior to the end of year general gradings held for the Wingham, Harrington, Taree PCYC and Canberra dojos.

These events have brought to a close a very successful year for the association.

It has some exciting events to look forward to next year with several students becoming eligible for testing for different black belt levels.

The visit to Australia once again by Okinawan karate master, Soke Takayoshi Nagamine (10th dan) will be the highlight of the coming year as he brings a wealth of knowledge about the martial arts going back hundreds of years.

Further information about karate is available by contacting John Carlyle on 6556 0218.