On Thursday 25th January, the Chief Instructor for Storm Family Martial Arts was invited to attend the Thames Valley Business Awards as Storm was shortlisted for the Outstanding Contribution To The Community Award.  From over 100 nominees that were whittled down to a shortlist of 12, which was then further reduced to 3 finalists, Storm Family Martial Arts were the overall winner.

Outstanding Contribution To The Community Award – Winner, Storm Family Martial Arts

Digger said “It was a real honour and privilege to accept this award on behalf of the whole Storm community.  We would like to say thank you to everyone in the local community that has been a part of our journey.”

The judges said they were blown away by the impact we’ve had by how innovative we have been.  For example we have:

– Planted 560 trees, one for every student

– Delivered over £2,000 of brand new toys to the Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice for Christmas presents

– Raised money for Breast Cancer Research by wearing pink belts in class

– Raised money for Berkshire Womens Aid through Self Defence Seminars

– All of our black belts have dedicated time to local charities / community projects as part of their Black Belt test

– Our very own Community Service Awards have resulted in many of our junior students finding creative ways to give back to their local community

Digger Barnes, Chief Instructor of Storm Family Martial Arts, attended the Thames Valley Business Awards with his wife Idy Barnes.

Another highlight of the awards night was meeting former Olympian and World Record Holder, Fatima Whitbread who was they keynote speaker.  She received an emotional standing ovation for sharing her story and for all the work she does for children in care today.  What a truly remarkable woman !!!

You can see a 1 minute video of the awards here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZTnFh2f4BM

In other news:

– Storm turned 6 years old on January 23^rd 2024

– We now have 500 members training across 8 locations in Maidenhead, Bracknell, Warfield, Wokingham, Windsor, Woodley & Farnborough

– In recent years we’ve also won Martial Arts Academy Of The Year (London & SE) and UK Martial Arts Instructor Of The Year (out of a pool of 1,000 instructors)

Our mission statement states  “we will create role models who are both respected in and are a positive influence on their local community”.   This most recent award shows that, together with support from the local community, we have achieved exactly that so…. THANK YOU to everyone who has supported our initiatives over the last year.