In memory of Gordon Anderson, UKASKO PR Officer

Sadly for us all at UKASKO Gordon lost his battle with cancer on August 17th, after extensive treatment successes and set-backs.

Gordon was a very proactive karateka, always striving to do his best for others and was a very loyal instructor for UKASKO. He undertook the task of supplying us with his witty newsletters on a bi monthly basis for quite some time.

As his illness progressed he found it more difficult to continue to carry out the work. It was a great loss to us, as the newsletters proved to be a lifeline to UKASKO clubs by keeping us up to date with news and events.

Gordon always had time for anyone and everyone; he was always willing to help with his advice and thoughts. He was a real night owl who regularly corresponded with instructors in the wee hours of the morning. It was quite a common occurrence to see an email had been posted at 3am or even later.

Our chairman told me that these early postings were a regular occurrence and at one time turned into a bit of a competition to see who could post the earliest comments. He thought he had won one day with a posting at 4.30am, until Gordon reacted by stating that he never went to bed, which I think doesn’t count.

On Thursday the 25th of August, a few of our most senior instructors travelled to Altrincham to pay their respects to our dear friend, namely Roy Stanhope, Kevin Barlow, Gareth Edwards, accompanied by my son Adam, Julius Manyoni, Garry Lewis, John Tweddle and Dee Fakira.

The service held at Altrincham Crematorium was a Human reading, which told the life and times of Gordon, which brought both tears and laughter to the room. Poems written by Gordon were then read out, as well as a selection of music he loved. We were led out to Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” from the film Titanic; a very fitting and emotional song which touched the hearts of so many of us present.

Some of the instructors then moved on to celebrate the life and times of Sensei Anderson with a nice meal at the Rope and Anchor Pub a few minutes away.

We hope you all join us in wishing Gordon’s family good health and strength to get them through this very sad time. We at UKASKO have happy memories of a lovely man and we will miss him greatly.

Gareth Edwards

Zanshin Karate Cymru