KN Event – Facebook Post

The Kendo Nagasaki Foundation Presents:

A Fund-Raising Event.

Featuring Kendo Nagasaki / Peter Thornley.

Sunday 24th October 2021 10:30 Arrival – 11:00 Start with Kendo Nagasaki

Lunch 13:00

15:00 Start with Peter Thornley

30 Places Available

Tea/Coffee/Biscuits Served All Day

Price £25.00 Per Person.

Please email admin@kendonagasaki.org to book your place.

I was saddened today to hear of the passing of the great Jimmy Greaves, a man who leaves a legacy of remarkable sporting skill, but also of warmth, intelligence, and a good-humoured approach to life.

I had the good fortune to work with Jimmy for a charity wrestling match, arranged by LWT, in December 1986. By this time, Jimmy was established as an extremely popular football pundit on ‘Saint and Greavsie’, and on meeting him I understood the demand for him. For the match, he wore pink – not a colour often seen in a wrestling ring – and it was agreed that Kendo should body-slam him. We discussed the ‘match’ beforehand, and Jimmy’s warmth and humour greatly impressed me. He was the perfect likeable ‘babyface’ foil for Kendo’s gruesome reputation, and I understand the event was very well received.

We all owe Jimmy a great debt of gratitude for the positive way in which he approached life, he was always a fine example of wit and good cheer, and we’re fortunate that he’s left a considerable legacy of video footage with which we can fondly remember him.

 A life well-lived, admirably so – rest in peace, Jimmy Greaves.

 Kendo Nagasaki / Peter Thornley.

Jimmy Greaves vs Kendo Nagasaki

We are very pleased to announce a weekend date for our event.

The event will take place over the weekend of 11th & 12th November 2017.

For the overnight stays we only have one room with a double bed the rest have all been booked.

To book a place at the event please email admin@kendonagasaki.org, and we’ll get right back to you.

On March 18th 2017 the Lee Rigby Foundation hosted a charity event at Manchester United Stadium in Manchester.

Here are some photographs of the event.

We are pleased to announce the dates of our first Event for 2017!

The Event will take place over the weekend of 29th – 30th April.

We look forward to seeing you all once again, to still the mind, re-connect with the intuitive self, and find peace and strength…

At this Event, Ian Wilshaw and Paul Douglas will be celebrating their 50th Birthdays!

To enquire about the Event, please email admin@kendonagasaki.org, and we’ll get right back to you.

See you there!

Please Note: due to how busy we are working with the Lee Rigby Foundation on the Lee Rigby House and Lodge projects, we will be announcing events on an ‘ad-hoc’ basis this year, when we can see how to make all the necessary arrangements fit together – please bear with us in this great cause!

On a crisp, bright December morning, BBC Midlands Today came to the site of the Lee Rigby House, to film what’s been achieved so far, and show what we have planned for the Lee Rigby Lodge.

Lyn and Ian brought friend and supporter Paul Matson from Hull4Heroes, a man who’s already achieved a huge amount in the crucially important work of supporting Veterans. Paul is a Veteran himself, and has been a major contributor to ‘DIY SOS: The Big Build’ project for Veterans’ housing, and he was very impressed at what the Lee Rigby Foundation is aiming for here in Staffordshire.

Paul said, “I was treated to a VIP day today visiting the very first Lee Rigby house, I have to say I stood back in amazement of what will be a wonderful retreat in stunning grounds for bereaved families, ex service men and women, Lyn and her family were so let down by the Army, she intends to help many people in the same situation , we intend to help where we can and form a partnership that will help us both”

The House and Lodge properties have been made available by the Kendo Nagasaki Foundation, and as refurbishment on the House continues apace, the Lodge has yet to be begun, and we look forward to Paul’s help and raising the funds required to make it happen, and helping as many families and Veterans as possible, as soon as possible.

See the full video – which includes both the BBC’s Facebook posting and the broadcast feature – here.

Here at the Nagasaki Retreat, we’ve been working hard on the Lee Rigby House, so that the Lee Rigby Foundation can bring families here as soon as possible for a much-needed break. We were delighted when Granada ITV News wanted to film a feature on it, and the resulting clip is a wonderful demonstration of the sanctuary it is becoming, for bereaved families and forces’ Veterans.

ITV filmed a lot more when they were here, including the Lee Rigby Lodge and more interviews, but they only had a very short window of air-time, so even though it got edited down, we’re delighted with their work.

ITV News want to come back to film more as we make further progress on the House and the Lodge, and we welcome their interest, as it’ll help spread the word of the work of the Lee Rigby Foundation, particularly to the people who really need their help.

One of the other interviews on the day was with a Veteran of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, who commented on how valuable the Lee Rigby House and Lodge would be – he said, “When I was in a bad place, I really needed peace and quiet and the chance to have a good night’s sleep, as I found that was the first step towards recovering and getting my life back together. This place is just perfect for that – even though it’s not finished, I’d like to move in now!”

We can’t wait to welcome families and Veterans here – everyone knows the benefits of peace and quiet, but for those the Lee Rigby Foundation seeks to help, it is an essential step in healing and rebuilding their lives.

See the ITV News Video here.

Please help in supporting this work – go to the Lee Rigby House and Lodge web page and hit the “Donate” button – thank you.

As you will have seen on our You Tube channel, Kendo Nagasaki 101, on 14th August 2016, the ‘Wrestlers’ Reunion’ held its 25th Anniversary Event, once more at The Bridges pub.

As the video describes, this year was a special event, as attending were Lyn and Ian Rigby, accompanied by daughter Courtney. Lyn’s book, “Lee Rigby – A Mother’s Tale” was on sale at the Reunion, as was the Nagasaki’ Foundation’s DVD of the 5th March fund-raiser wrestling tournament at the Victoria Hall, raising funds towards the ‘Lee Rigby Lodge’, the retreat for forces’ Veterans and families, in Staffordshire.

Also attending this year’s Reunion was Kelly Tolhurst MP, who has a special interest in supporting the military, accompanied by Reunion regular, Chris Buckwell, and they both met Lyn and Ian Rigby, and discussed the Lee Rigby Foundation’s joint charitable works with Kendo’s Charity. Kelly Tolhurst presented Lyn with an award for ‘Courage In The Face Of Adversity’, and she went even further – there was even mention of a visit to Parliament by our Foundations!

It was a wonderful day, and the enthusiasm of everyone at the event was inspiring and powerfully motivating. Of course, our Foundations had worked together for the 5th March wrestling contest fund-raiser at the Victoria Hall, and at the Wrestler’s Reunion, and since then, we’ve ramped-up our collaboration even more.

This makes a great deal of sense, as we have shared aims of empowering people by giving them a chance to get away from it all and have the space to heal, and the Nagasaki Foundation has the resources to make the Lee Rigby Foundation’s aims come to fruition.

It was decided a year ago that a large building on the site of Kendo’s Retreat would be made available to the Lee Rigby Foundation – indeed, it was while on a break here with husband Ian, that Lyn Rigby saw the building and she had a vision of it as the home for Lee’s legacy – it was to become the place where the people her foundation supports could come to heal; on that day, the Lee Rigby Lodge was born.

The Lee Rigby Foundation needs to raise funds to refurbish the Lee Rigby Lodge building, and this aim was described in the Middleton Guardian newspaper on 6th October, which also told the story of one of their fund-raising events, and there are an ever-increasing number of such events in preparation.

In order to help speed the progress of all the organisation and arrangements within and around the Lee Rigby Foundation, two members of the Nagasaki staff are now lending their support, Yvonne and Roz, and we have also provided space for an official Lee Rigby Foundation office, from which all mail, emails, and phonecalls can be administered. This makes a lot of sense, as we collectively work towards progressing the Lee Rigby Lodge.

And there’s been another spectacular development – whilst the refurbishment of the Lee Rigby Lodge building will necessarily take some time, Kendo’s Foundation will be able to provide retreat facilities to the Lee Rigby foundation much sooner, now that the availability of another property has been pledged. There’s a large double-fronted house a little down the hill from the Lee Rigby Lodge which has wonderful southerly views over pastures with horses, and this will become the Lee Rigby House. It’s mid-way through a complete refurbishment right now, and when it’s complete early next year, it’ll comfortably accommodate two of the families that the Lee Rigby Foundation is seeking to help.

The Nagasaki Foundation’s commitment to the Lee Rigby Foundation reflects both our the appreciation of the needs that they seek to meet, and the value of the help that will be made available. Meanwhile, the new office will be continually pushing forward all organisational and administrative matters, and we’ll make sure we’re doing all we can to keep making positive progress.

Meanwhile, the next Nagasaki Event takes place over the weekend of 15th & 16th October, with some new faces being warmly welcomed to the Retreat. We trust that they’ll leave deeply calm and inspired!

So, please keep an eye on our Blog and our Facebook pages. These are most exciting times for both our Foundation and the Lee Rigby Foundation and our shared aims, and we’re looking forward to spreading the word and recruiting ever more support for this work. It is, as ever, very much the Kendo approach – “Onwards!”

Here’s a quick follow-up from the March 5th Nagasaki / Bartelli “Most Promising Newcomer” to British Wrestling Event at the Victoria Hall, Hanley.

It was an excellent day which everyone really enjoyed – we were delighted with how many of the participants as well as the guests said they’d had a great time, and had enjoyed meeting so many friendly people, many of whom, for those who generously gave their time to participate in the event, would go on to be helpful collaborators in wrestling.

Most importantly, we were delighted with how we were able to spread the word about veterans’ support and raise funds for such a worthy cause. We were working with Lyn Rigby and the North Staffs Veterans Organisation, in pursuit of setting-up the Lee Rigby Lodge, a facility aimed at veterans and their families being able to come to the Nagasaki Retreat, and get away from it all, relax, recharge their batteries, and move forward in their lives with a new strength.

We were also honoured to have Lou Macari come along to judge the finals matches alongside Lyn Rigby and Kendo – Lou is already involved in very worthwhile charity work, and we were delighted that he brought his charismatic support to our contest.

We are currently putting together a DVD of the event – at its heart was a wrestling challenge, seeking the “Most Promising Newcomer”, as voted through the heats by two cherished friends of the Nagasaki organisation, Joseph and Margaret Heath, who had been present at the original Nagasaki / Bartelli match at the Victoria Hall on 5th March, 1966 (accompanied in the judging by own Yvonne Walker), and then by Lou Macari, Lyn Rigby and Kendo judging the finals matches.

The wrestling was most impressive! The newcomers who participated were highly professional and very energetic, giving the audience quite a show! All this will be shown on the DVD.

The “Most Promising Newcomer” event had 2 main aims – to raise awareness of the need for veterans’ support, and hopefully to raise some funds, but this was a secondary consideration to the profile-raising we hoped to achieve. It was an expensive event to hold, and sadly, the weather was against us – we had rain, hail, snow, and even sunshine on the day! – so the audience and consequently the donations received were limited.

Ultimately, we lost £55.94 on the day, but it still has more to give, from sales of the DVD, which will be available this summer.

We’d like to extend our deepest gratitude once again to everyone who helped us hold the event, including Brian and Letitia of Superslam Wrestling, Gareth at the Victoria Hall, Lou Macari, Lyn Rigby and family, Margaret and Joseph Heath, Yvonne Walker, all the wrestling participants, the many others who helped behind-the-scenes, and particularly all those who came along to support the event – thank you so much.

PS: buy the DVD – help us to help Veterans!

As you will no doubt know, Kendo Nagasaki has his own Zen Charity, which works from his Retreat in Staffordshire to offer a lovely place to get away from it all, meditate, perform mindfulness exercises, and enjoy the beautiful and peaceful grounds around the Retreat. Our guests have reported feeling wonderful after coming to the Retreat, as the experience has helped them to overcome stress, find peace of mind, get better sleep at night, and enjoy life more, whilst feeling stronger and better able to cope with whatever challenges it throws at them. We’re delighted that our guests keep coming back!

We now offer overnight stays for Retreat Events over 2 days, and are planning longer stays too, and we are looking to expand our facilities to offer more bedrooms. With this in mind, we are raising funds now to refurbish currently-unused rooms, so that more people can come to the Retreat, and become deeply relaxed and empowered…

In addition to being supported by sales of Kendo memorabilia in the Nagasaki Web Store, Our charity, The Kendo Nagasaki Foundation, can now accept donations through PayPal, and we would welcome your support!

We are deeply grateful to everyone who has bought Kendo memorabilia and helped our cause, but we also welcome any donation that anyone feels able to make at any time. Of course, once you’ve donated to us and supported our work, you’ll have to come and stay with us, and get a deeply-relaxing and empowering return on your investment!

We are delighted that we are providing ever-more support to forces Veterans, and we look forward to being able to constantly expand our facilities to help as many people as possible, from all walks of life.

So – please hit the ‘Donate’ button! You’ll be helping us to help more people overcome stress and find peace and strength through Zen at Kendo’s Retreat. From all at Kendo’s Retreat, and everyone you’ll be helping, now and into the future, we say a BIG

Thank You!

Be There!!!

Here is our formal Events Calendar for 2016.

1. February 13-14;

2. March 12-13;

3. April 9-10; (“Hana-mi” cherry-blossom viewing Event)

4. May 14-15;

5. June 11-12;

6. June 25-26; (Special Tea Ceremony Event, separate days)

7. July 9-10;

8. September 10-11;

9. October 15-16;

10. November 12-13.

These Events can be booked at any time, but additional Events will be held during the year, so do keep an eye on the Blog and the Events page for announcements about them.

The above Events will all be held over the 2 days of a weekend (except the Tea Ceremony Event, which is two individual Events over two separate days – see below*), and they are all on Saturdays and Sundays, so however often you visit us, you won’t have to take time off work.

The format for 2-day weekend Events including an overnight stay is as follows:

You’ll arrive late morning on the 1st day, and after a welcome meet-and-greet, there will be a buffet lunch, followed by the afternoon’s activities. There will be a traditional hot evening meal, after which you can relax in the guest lounge before retiring.

On the 2nd day, you help yourself to a self-service breakfast in the guest kitchen, and the morning’s activities start at 10:30. There will be a buffet lunch, followed by the afternoon’s activities, and, of course, an endless supply of tea, coffee, and biscuits on both days!

Each Event is for a maximum of 14 people, with overnight accommodation initially for 7 people.

Our 3 current guest bedrooms include a triple room with 3 single beds, a twin room with 2 single beds, and a double room with a double bed. As mentioned, there is a guest kitchen with breakfast provisions, a shower room with basin and toilet, a separate toilet with basin, and the guest lounge. We will be expanding our accommodations during 2016, but with rooms initially being limited, please book early to secure your accommodation at the Retreat.

Single-day Events include lunch and tea, coffee and biscuits.

The costs are £75 per person for an overnight stay, including all meals and refreshments, and £25 per day if you don’t stay overnight. Please note that these fees are to cover food and staffing costs, and we welcome additional donations to help us continue to grow the work of our Foundation.

To book a place at any of these Events, or to make any further enquiries, please send an email to events@kendonagasaki.org

*The Special Tea Ceremony Event is limited to 5 people per day, and involves Kendo Nagasaki conducting the Japanese Tea Ceremony for you as an individual guest. You will be served Japanese “matcha” green tea in your own unique specially-commissioned tea bowl, and after the tea ceremony, Kendo will ceremonially present the tea bowl to you in a lined presentation box, with a certificate of exclusivity. The tea bowls were commissioned from renowned pottery artist Anne Bates, who came to the Nagasaki Retreat for inspiration in crafting them. The resulting tea bowls artfully encapsulate and reflect the beauty and spiritual depth of the grounds of the Retreat, and perfectly accommodate the time-honoured and artistic Japanese tea ceremony, particularly as conducted by Kendo Nagasaki. The cost of a place for the Japanese Tea Ceremony as conducted by Kendo Nagasaki, and receiving your own presentation-boxed tea bowl is £100.

To enquire further or book a place, please email us at events@kendonagasaki.org.

On Friday, 20th November 2015, Kendo Nagasaki was once more seen in a wrestling ring, in a hard-working suburb in the North of England – it sounds reminiscent of the Golden Years of British Professional Wrestling! And in many ways, it was indeed a glorious echo of those days – the local hall was full of passionate fans of genuine wrestling, Kendo was greeted with both admiration and wariness, and there was electricity in the air!

Kendo had been invited to attend the wrestling event by his tag-team partner of many years, Blondie Barratt, who was not wrestling, but promoting the event, and in one of his favourite venues, Blondie wanted to present Kendo with his own “Wrestling Icon” award, as a thankyou for the many years of their incredible team-work.

Rumour had been reaching Kendo that wrestling had been growing in popularity “up North”, and so he decided to accept this award, and also perform an Empowerment Ceremony in the ring. If the rumour was true, then Kendo also wanted to reward the new generation of wrestling fans, so he also decided to hold a prize draw for fans of 15 years of age and under.

Prize draw tickets were given to those 15-and-younger as they arrived, and everyone received one of Kendo’s mystical “Empowerment” flyers, and after the third match, the “Anthem for Nagasaki” echoed through the building… it was time!

Led by his spokesperson, Roz MacDonald, and followed by his personal assistant of many years, Lawrence, Kendo made his way regally to the ring, accompanied by the customary wonder and suspicion and respect of the audience… The MC announced Blondie’s award, and he came into the ring and presented Kendo with an engraved silver salver and a “Wrestling Icon” certificate.

Blondie then made a speech about how much the award meant to him – having been chosen to partner Kendo in a tag team had done wonders for Blondie’s career in wrestling, and had taken him to places far and wide, and he wished his award and certificate to reflect his appreciation of the success it had all brought him, even as a “heel”! It was a touching speech, which shed welcome light on how Kendo’s influence had meant so much to Blondie, and had impacted his life so positively; if Kendo wasn’t so impassive, he might have been moved too!

Then it was time for the 15-and-under prize draw. Roz MacDonald took the mic, and invited one of Kendo’s most devoted and passionate fans into the ring to perform the ticket draw – Amanda Buckley-Taylor. Amanda and her husband Andy have been regular visitors to Kendo’s Retreat, enthusiastically taking to the messages of his charity, the Kendo Nagasaki Foundation, which seeks to empower people through the philosophy of Kyu Shin Do and Zen Buddhism. (Amanda also has a fantastic selection of Kendo tattoos!) While Amanda chose the winning tickets, Andy snapped countless souvenir pictures!

There were 3 prizes, and the winners were all invited to the ring – and their ages ranged from early teens down to under 5 – truly, a new generation of wrestling fans! It was true, then – wrestling is BACK, for an enthusiastic new generation, as the good people of Stocksbridge emphatically showed!

Then it was on to Kendo’s “Empowerment Ceremony”. Roz explained how Kendo has always drawn on the strength and wisdom of the samurai of ancient Japan, and how they used “empowerment phrases” before battle, like the one on Kendo’s flyer… When Kendo struck his mystical singing bowl, those who had put themselves in accord with the spiritual samurai would be empowered, and when the moment came, every hand in the hall shot up, holding Kendo’s flyer. The singing bowl rang through the electric silence, which turned to enthusiastic applause when Roz announced that they had all now been empowered! This crowd clearly welcomed empowerment from the spiritual samurai, Kendo himself!

During the interval, a long, long queue of autograph and picture hunters waited outside Kendo’s dressing room, for the chance to get his signature and be photographed with him; it was great to see so many old-fashioned autograph books in the hands of so many youngsters – even in today’s technological world, the magic of a real autograph is once more being appreciated.

All-in-all, it was a great evening – Blondie’s heart-felt award clearly did mean a lot to Kendo, the presence of so many new young wrestling fans at the event bodes very well for the future of British wrestling, and the entire audience was eager, good-natured, and passionate – and with Kendo Nagasaki being seen at the centre of things, it seems like the good old days are most emphatically back!

Friday 13th November saw the arrival of another anniversary of the great Kendo Nagasaki’s first appearance on the British Professional Wrestling scene – to the very day – that fateful day in 1964 was also a Friday 13th!

To celebrate Kendo’s 51st anniversary, as well as conduct the monthly Distance Healing Ceremony, a combined Event was staged, which included both the Ceremony, two sessions of Kendo’s Kyu Shin Do Singing Bowl Healing (an exquisite experience!), as well as a new version of the Empowerment Meditation held in the Meditation Suite, a Healing Aspiration Stick-Burning Ceremony in the Anniversary Orchard after dark, and, of course, the traditional ‘Pie, Mash, and Peas’ Anniversary meal that evening for all 14 guests.

This Event had long been mentioned as being the first one where guests could come and stay overnight at The Retreat, and seven of our regular visitors were lightning-fast in getting their names down for the stay-over places – they were all booked more than six months ahead of the Event!

Saturday 14th saw our overnight guests emerge, professing an excellent night’s sleep and feeling great, and as that day’s other guests arrived, it was into another Event.

Saturday included the new Zen Kyu Shin Do guided meditation in the Meditation Suite, as well as 2 options of our ‘Shakyo’ mindfulness exercise, and a tour of the grounds on a rainy and very November-kind of day, but with plenty of places to shelter and enjoy them, the grounds feel so alive in the rain.

After a warming lunch, Kendo gave a beautiful Singing Bowl Performance, the haunting sounds of the bowls speaking of energies deep in the universe and also at the very heart of our selves, and there was then an activity which Kendo has been practising for decades but was new to our Retreat guests – a Kyu Shin Do seated meditation. Kendo had defined the guidance very carefully, so everyone was relaxed and knew what to do as soon as he entered and struck a singing bowl to commence the meditation, and the deep peace of Zen engulfed us all. The time just vanished, and when Kendo concluded the meditation, everyone said they wanted to return to The Retreat and do it again!

There then followed sittings of the Japanese Tea Ceremony for those who hadn’t experienced it before, an Affirmation Stick-Burning Ceremony in The Hidden Garden, and even though most of our guests had been here before, a lengthy autograph and photo session with Kendo.

This was the last formal Event of 2015, and we were delighted that everyone enjoyed it so much. We were also pleased to be able to welcome Scott and Steve of the North Staffs Veterans Organisation on both days, and it was great to hear that they were able to chill-out and benefitted from joining in – we hope to be working more with them and those they help in the future.

So, with our Events becoming increasingly-popular and well-received, we look forward to welcoming more people to The Retreat more frequently in 2016 and beyond – just keep an eye on the Blog and Events Pages for announcements!