Thank you to Jon Sieloff from Rainham Judo Club who sent in the following report of the We Will Remember Them Championships held in Gillingham last weekend. 

The Royal Engineers’s Gym, Gillingham was the setting for the 6^th We Will Remember Them Championships. The special event held on Remembrance weekend raised money for armed forces charities which look after service men and women and their families and honour those who lost their lives during times of war. 

On Saturday over a hundred junior players took to the mat with Medway Park Judo Club winning the tightly contested team competition. The medals and trophy were presented by the newly elected Kent Judo Chairman Steve Hunter. 

The following day saw Kyu and Dan grades in action. There were several interesting match ups during the day, none more so than George Watts taking on his father Stuart. Stuart took an early lead with a strong waza-ari before George caught him in the closing seconds with a lovely drop technique. 

There was also a masters event at the end of the day with a number of results being reversed from the senior event. Senior referees from both days Alan Lingham and Marian Woodard, presented these medals and the two trophies that where up for grabs. Medway Park Judo Club won the masters team trophy. A new trophy for the highest scoring Armed Forces team was won by the Royal Engineers with the Royal Force coming second and the Royal Logistics Corps in third place. 

The medals on Sunday were presented by Charlie Nicholls representing Jubilee Clips, one of the events sponsors, and Dave Quinn who donated the whole of the days’ photo taking proceeds to the funds.  

The Royal British Legion and Help for Heroes will be presented with donations of £800 each following the event. A further donation from the sale of refreshments will also be presented to the Royal Engineers’ charity. 

The organising committee would like to thank all of the officials, many who donate their expenses to the charity, Dave Quinn, the official photographer for the event, who donated a significant £320 to the funds, Medway Park Judo Club for their continued assistance before and during the competition, First Aid Sports Therapy for doing the first aid and the donation towards the medals, Jean and Alan Lingham for collating the entries, Warrant Officer Jon Chesney for liaising with the army and organising the excellent venue and an extra big thank you to Lorraine Millen for all the work behind the scene before, during and after the event.  

The organising committee are already looking for individuals and organisations to help support them in staging next year’s event. If you are interested in helping out please contact Jon Sieloff at judo.jon@btinternet.com. 

If you would like to make a donation to any of the charities mentioned please visit follow the link(s) below: 

Royal British Legion – http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/

Help for Heroes – www.helpforheroes.org.uk

Royal Engineers Association – https://www.justgiving.com/royalengineersassociation/

Photo kindly supplied by Dave Quinn – www.TopJudo.com or www.DaveQuinn.com.