Chief Instructor, Mr. Pete Rigg, 6th Degree

Mr Rigg started training at the age of twenty in the British United Taekwon-Do Federation at their Hillingdon School on the 1st June 1994. The Instructor at that time was Master Au VIII, who then as a 6th Dan had shouldered the responsibility of continuing the traditions of the first properly conducted Taekwon-Do School in the London area (with a full curriculum and regular quarterly gradings) that had been set up by Grandmaster Choy IX in 1973.

Progression through the colour belt ranks was steady with good results enabling him to apply and sit for the coveted Black Belt in the September of 1996, an exam which he passed with flying colours. Testimony to the standard he had achieved was that as a competitor he won Pattern Gold at every grade and in every competition from White Belt (9th Kup) to Black Belt 1st Dan. His competition successes as a Black Belt (representing the BUTF both nationally and internationally) have been more low keyed especially after assuming the mantle of Instructor.

As a 3rd Dan, qualifying as a BUTF Instructor in 2004 he spent the next three years assisting his Instructor at her other Schools including Wycombe, Colindale and his own parent school Hillingdon. He considered it a great honour when in 2006 he was invited by Master Au VIII to take over the running of Hillingdon TKD School. He willingly accepted the invitation, the challenge and the enormity of the task that lay ahead which was to perpetuate the legacy of Grandmaster Choy’s first school, which in its heyday had dominated the tournament scene in its parent organisation the UKTA.

However, as history is his witness, Mr Rigg VI has more than risen to the challenge in succeeding to, not only maintain the original values instilled by both Grandmaster Choy IX and Master Au VIII, but to further the impetus by producing Black Belts of his own, among the most recent, the oldest recorded member in the BUTF’s history to achieve the coveted rank of 1st Dan.