STUDENTS from Taunton's TAGB Tae Kwon Do school enjoyed success at the South West Championships at Hutton Moor, Weston Super Mare on Sunday.

Chloe Clarke picked up tag team gold and an individual sparring silver, while Bradley Richings won a sparring gold and there was a silver for Russell Tucker in individual sparring.

Jack Ridgley, Rowan Curry, Scarlett Murphy and Anya Wilson won bronze medals in sparring, with Wilson finishing fourth in patterns.

Ryan Atkinson and Mali Sherring won a tag team silver, and the haul of medals left club instructor Master Alec Hay proud with the club's performance.

The club invite all beginners to try a free first month's training - for more information on how to get involved with the club, contact Alec on 01823 443034 or alecmhay@aol.com.

*****

SOMERSET Ryu Karate, a Martial Arts club based in Taunton and Wellington, is celebrating after six of its members were selected for the KUGB England squad.

The students travelled to Liverpool on January 26-27 to try out for national selection, after being encouraged to do so by their club instructor, Sensei Peter Milne (3rd Dan).

There were places in two separate squads up for contention, Kata (patterns) and Kumite (free sparring).

Somerset Ryu members have enjoyed a glittering year of competition success, so they were confident that they had the ability to perform at the highest possible level.

They had to demonstrate their skills in front of two of the biggest names in UK karate, Sensei Andy Sherry (9th Dan) and Sensei Frank Brennan (8th Dan), one of the most decorated and renowned competitors in KUGB history.

Those selected from the Somerset club were brothers Charlie and William Don from Hemyock, Joely Ford from North Curry, brother and sister James and Cerys Eva from Wellington, and Thea Priest from Taunton.

This is Priest's fourth year on the national squad, having been selected for the past four international tournaments, including European and World Karate Championships.

Sensei Milne said: "I'm so very proud of my super six England squad members.

"All performed superbly and showed that they all possess huge potential; Somerset should be very proud of them all.

"In particular, we had five selected for the England Kata Squad, which was the joint highest number of any club in the country!"

"We had a few selected for the very first time as well; it was a very daunting process for them to go through.

"I'm sure all will flourish under the guidance of the national squad coaches."

Somerset Ryu Karate is currently accepting new students of all ages in both Taunton and Wellington; you can visit www.somerset-ryu.com for more details.