Published by
Kent Online
Kent Online
A martial arts club founded by a former prison officer who shared his jujitsu skills with colleagues so they could deal with inmates is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Roger Wilkes, now 75, is the founder of the Kyushin Ryu Ju Jitsu Association – a network of clubs across north Kent and two in West Sussex. He started training in martial arts as an 11-year-old schoolboy in 1959 when he got involved with judo before moving on to karate in the 1960s. Then in 1966, Roger started practising jujitsu to learn self-defence whilst he worked at Rochester prison as a prison officer. He described it as …