West Charleton Village Hall was the venue last Wednesday when karate students from three ­different locations converged to be tested for their next belts.

Students from Kingsbridge, Stokenham and East Allington all had to perform their karate techniques in front of World Traditional Karate Organisation grading examiners Ash and Jason Hawkes.

‘As the pressure of a test is not enough for some of these students, it was the first time that they had been away to another location to be tested,’ said Ash. ‘It was great for me to see the progress that Jay, who runs the karate classes at Stokenham and East Allington, and his students have made.’

Ash, who has been teaching karate in Kingsbridge for nearly 20 years, continued: ‘They’ve all done very well, and although not all passed, they all learnt a great deal from the experience.’

There are now WTKO karate classes in Ivybridge on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at Ivybridge Leisure Centre.

These are in addition to the classes that take place in Kingsbridge, Stokenham, Stoke Fleming, East Allington and Loddiswell, with training ­taking place for six days of every week.

Anyone interested in learning karate can ­contact either Ash or Jay on 01548 531808, by ­visiting www.wtkosw.com, or find them on Facebook as WTKO South West.