My name is Derek Joyce and I was born and raised in the Rushden area of Northamptonshire till I was 22 years of age.

My judo career started in 1968 in Rushden.

Eventually my work meant a move to St. Ives in Cambridgeshire. Here I joined the local Judo club. By this time  I had been out of Judo for 5 years and so decided to re-start my Judo career as a beginner. After a few years my Sensei moved away and it fell to me to take on the club. I felt I did not have the knowledge to run a club alone so I phoned the President of the association that we were with at the time and asked for help, but to my surprise was rebuffed. I then phoned Kancho Alfred Bates the President of another organisation of  which I had little knowledge. Not expecting too much, I asked for help and was told that he would help in any way possible. True to his word he duly introduced me to a 3rd Dan who was to help me enormously.

In October 1989 I finally got the chance to meet Kancho Bates in person and what a wonderful man he was.

With the help I needed now on board my knowledge and the club grew and we soon became a Budo Club,

with Judo, Karate, Aikido, Iaido and Jujutsu being practised at the clubs.

So from one club and one phone call, we grew to five disciplines and fifteen clubs. The ranks so far boast 4 Masters and 25 Dan Grades.

The wonderful man that helped me so much and too whom I will be eternally grateful, sadly passed away in November 2005. Due to my close bond with Kancho Bates Judan Hanshi and the understanding that he passed down to me, it became his wish that I became the President of the Tokushima Budo Council International to carry on his life's work..