Collin was born in Kuala Lumpur on the 4th August 1934. After 2 years National Service, followed by service in the Malaysian Aboriginal Department and then 7 years service in the British Royal Medical Core throughout Malaysia he headed for London in 1962.
He started practicing Judo in 1968 but soon became interested in Karate and joined a Kyokushinkai club. He moved to Peterlee in the North East of England in 1969 and started training at a Wado-Ryu club. In 1970 John Holdsworth opened a Shotokan club at the Sunderland YMCA and Collin was so impressed with the standard that he immediately joined.
Collin stayed with Sunderland Sendai until he passed his Shodan in 1975 and then went on to found Kushiro SKC in Peterlee. A change of job in 1981 forced him to relocate and move to Gateshead where, in 1982, he founded the Gateshead Leisure Centre SKC.
Throughout his time at both Kushiro and Gateshead Karate Club,s Collin took great pride in helping many of his students to reach national competitor level, with many achieving places on the national junior and senior squads. He is also very proud of the number of students who have continued training and become very competent instructors in their own right. While Chief Instructor at Kushiro SKC he had the honour of being selected to meet Prince Charles with whom he discussed karate and the martial arts, and was later introduced to Queen Elizabeth II during the opening of Gateshead Leisure Centre.
Collin has been a National Referee since 1979 and Shotokan karate has been his life for over 40 years. He wishes to personally express great admiration and appreciation to all the KUGB Senior Instructors and especially gives credit to the late Sensei Enoeda, Sensei Sherry and Sensei Brennan for helping him to achieve so much.
His greatest achievement and proudest moment was gaining his 5th Dan at the age of 65, after some persuasion from Sensei Brennan to attempt the grade. He was then very honoured, and humbled, to face Sensei Brennan in kumite.
Collin then went on to pass his 6th Dan at the advanced age of 75 years, another great achievement for such a dedicated karate man. At the 2018 KUGB National Championships, Collin was awarded his 7th Dan by KUGB Chairman, Sensei Andy Sherry.
Never resting on his laurels, Collin continues to train hard and is a regular at most KUGB training courses. He firmly believes that the philosophies and practice of karate can change peoples’ lives for the better, and help them achieve greater happiness and success in life. Collin is a great inspiration to all KUGB Karate-Ka.
