club history

WYJC was founded in 1973 by Sensei John Culley, 3rd Dan Judo (photo left).  It was also Sensei Culley who designed our Club Badge way back in 1973.  Right from the very beginning; our Club Mission Statement and Motto has always been 'Judo For All'.  Genuinely, for ALL of this time, we have maintained that ethos throughout all of our history.

Our first Dojo was in St. Peter’s Collegiate School Hall, North Street, Wolverhampton.  Just over a year later, we had to move due to the School-site being used to make way for the 'expanding' Wolverhampton Polytechnic.  The 'Poly' (as it was known) eventually graduated to become the University of Wolverhampton.   St. Peter’s Collegiate School relocated to Compton (a suburb of Wolverhampton) when the Old School was demolished.

The photo on the right is of St. Peter's Collegiate School Hall.  The photograph was provided by David G. Worton (one of the early members of WYJC) and was taken at the time when the Hall was being demolished.

1974: We moved into a Victorian factory building in Union Street (still central to Wolverhampton), where we occupied the whole of the first floor.  On the second floor was the home of the Wolverhampton Boxing Club.  The Boxing Club venue was also shared by the original Wado Ryu Karate Club run by Sakagami Sensei.  However, due to a government compulsory purchase order, we all had to move out of Union Street (to make way for the new Novotel building - situated just off the Ring Road, behind the New Wolverhampton Law Courts)

1976: We finally moved to Hilton Hall Community Centre, Hilton Road, Lanesfield, Wolverhampton, where we delivered regular Judo Classes from 1976 right up to this present time.  However in October 2008 we had to temporarily move out of Hilton Hall of Lanesfield whilst major repairs & refurbishment work was carried out.

We are extremely proud to have been able to offer the opportunity to deliver this service to our Community over all of these years (since 1973) and we have endeavoured to provide excellent quality judo tuition, coaching and practice for literally 'Thousands of Youngsters & adults' in all of this time.

Our Club Motto has always been 'Judo for All' and we took it as a compliment when the National Governing Body for the Sport of Judo in the UK (The British Judo Association) adopted our 1973 Club Mission Statement & Motto and 'Posted it' on their (BJA) web site last Year (2011).

2008 September 9th: WYJC was presented with the Sport England Club Mark Award Certificate by 3 times Olympiad & Chairman of the British Judo Association Mr Densign White 8th Dan.  The certificate was presented to the Club Coaches with over 100 Members being present to celebrate our achievement.

At the same time, we were also successful with our Awards-4-All Funding Bid (£10,000) which helped us work with local schools & colleges delivering the School-2-Dojo programme as part of our Five Year Club Development Plan.

2008 October 3rd: Sadly, we have had to move out of Hilton Hall Community Centre due to the closure of the Hall by the City Council.  During the closure of Hilton Hall we re-located our classes to a local school hall, until such time as we could return our activities back to Hilton Hall.  Our first class in our temporary NEW home was at Hurst Hill Primary School and was held on 16th October 2008 and we stayed there for two years whilst repair work and refurbishment continued at Hilton Hall.

2009 June 4th: The Lease for Hilton Hall was signed, sealed & delivered to Hilton Hall Community Association (namely the WYJC Management & Coaching Team being; Debbie, Heather & Keith) and work commenced on the Hall Repairs on Thursday 4th June 2009.   This whole process was Project Managed by Debbie, Heather & Keith who carried-out much of the work themselves as well as finding suitable Sponsors & Funding to pay fro the work needed on the Main Hall (Upper Floor Level) enabling it to be opened-up for use once more by the general public (November 13th  was the Official Opening Ceremony by the Mayor of Wolverhampton).  You can read about (& see photographs of:) our epic Journey since we took over the Lease in June 2009 right up to this present time via the Hilton Hall web site at:  http://hiltonhall.com

2010 November 16th:  We resumed our traditional Club Practice Sessions following a Two Year absence from the Hall and we are very pleased to be back to our long-term Home at at Hilton Hall.  As always; we WELCOME OLD AND NEW MEMBERS, so please come Visit us soon and join in our Judo sessions on Tuesday & Thursday evenings (go to 'Session Times & Fees' link above).

funded & supported by the national lottery, wolverhampton network consortium & by ni-co coaching partnership

wyjc was founded in 1973 and our motto has always been 'judo for all'

our bja club number is 4468

wyjc