AE-UK

a letter from Quentin Cooke

There are two main levels of support that you would be providing if you sign your dojo up.  These are:

1. Providing hard cash to ensure that AE can support the projects that it adopts, ( no reason why we can not find projects over here or elsewhere that we want to bring to the worlds attention as part of AE).
2. Agreeing to run one fund raising course a year for AE.

After that, the amount to which you get involved is up to you, but if this is truly going to work, as I hope it will we need people like you to:

1. Use your influence to persuade students to join
2. Use your influence to persuade other dojos (and any martial art that teaches peace) from within and outside of your own organziation to sign up.
3. Offer your ideas and energy as to how we spread the word and where AE needs to go in the future.
   

The main thing I have found is that apart from the good work that AE supports we have an opportunity to build a network amongst UK aikdoka that breaks down the barriers across associations and cuts through the politics and ego that has historically been all to prevalent.  We also get the chance to explore how aikido can be made more mainstream and by this I mean not only on the mat but beyond.  We have people working hard to bring aikido into mainstream education, using their aikido skills in business management and consultancy and, in America particularly, using it as powerful tool in therapy for the abused and marginalized.

I can not emphasize enough how much this whole project is in its infancy, particularly in the UK.  The last few years have been very much about learning lessons about how to create a dynamic that ensures that rather than AE working on a hand to mouth basis, that it is able to stand on its own two feet and use the resources at its disposal to make a real difference in the world. We are potentially on the cusp of creating a movement that I believe is hugely important and which will change the aikido world as we know it. It would be fantastic to have you involved from very nearly the beginning.

Please email me <qc at independent-financialsolutions dot co dot uk> when you want to discuss this now or in the future.

Regards

Quentin

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