Leeds gran, 73, gets karate black belt
A supergran has become the oldest woman in the UK to earn a karate black belt after promising her dying husband that she would fight on until she won the sport's highest accolade.
Barbara Dyson, 73, won the top belt in July after 10 years of training four times a week.
The tough pensioner, from Methley, Leeds, had to endure a gruelling four hours of assessment for her black belt grading session when she sparred against rivals – some only a fifth of her age.
She also had to perform eight masterful "katas", which are likened to solo dances that incorporate kicking, punching and blocking.
The great-grandmother, who also has three grandchildren, said she regularly picks up scrapes and bruises in her sessions at two clubs in Wakefield, and nearby Normnton.
Recently, Barbara accidentally karate chopped a friend's hand and left her bruised and swollen after the pal tried to pick up her handbag and she mistook her for a mugger.
She said: "I hit her on the hand, causing bad bruising. It was awfully embarrassing. I didn't realise my own strength."
She took up karate when she was 63 after self defence consultants called at her home.
She said: "They suggested both me and my grandson Simon start together and I said to him 'I will if you will'."
Teenager Simon quit after earning his red belt but Barbara was hooked.
The retired district nurse had promised her late husband, former engineer Desmond, who died last year, that she wouldn't give up.
"He used to love the fact that I was involved in the sport and he really used to spur me on. He thought it was great," she said.
Sensei Eliot Kay, 48, who runs the Go Kan Ryu club where Barbara trains, said: "Her husband died 13 months ago and most 73-year-olds would have quit but she made a promise to him that she would get her black belt."
Posted: Tuesday, October 14, 2008
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