Pictured are (left-right) TKD Scotland Officers; Mr William Cairns II Deg, Mr Charles McDonald IV Deg, followed by GM Tom MacCallum IX Deg, Master Mark Hutton VII Deg, and Master Gordon Wallace VII Deg. Also present but not in the picture was Master George Dosoo VII Degree

On Sunday 1st November 2009, TKD Scotland hosted their 1st Invitational Championship in the Bellahouston Sports Centre in Glasgow. ITF Scotland were also invited to this inaugural event and a total of 255 entries were registered with 4 events being contested in Patterns, Sparring, Special Technique and Power Test.

 

With everyone in attendance it was befitting to take this opportunity to present, the guest of honour Grandmaster Tom MacCallum IX degree, with what was essentially a lifetime achievement award on behalf of those present there. The tribute was in recognition of Grandmaster MacCallum’s lifetime contribution to the ITF, both nationally and more importantly internationally where he played many important roles at various levels of senior office. The ITF recently honoured this dedication by granting promotion to 9th degree earlier this year. This moment of reflection could not have been complete without mentioning the relationship Grandmaster MacCallum had with our late founder General Choi and the comfort he took from that. 2009 has been granted the “Year of Homecoming” by the Scottish Executive for ex-pat Scots living abroad and now returning home. This initiative could not have been more poignant than for this homecoming Scot, in particular, a Scottish Grandmaster.

Grandmaster MacCallum has many times been pushed for publishing his memoirs, and this time we have managed to pin him down albeit in auditory format. On the 6th December we in TKD Scotland will be having seminar titled “An Audience with GM MacCallum”. This will be a mixed event of first technical training with Master Wallace and Master Hutton followed by a couple of hours of Q & A to GM MacCallum on his life’s experiences with the ITF and General Choi.

2009 was a good year for TKD Scotland as we had another senior instructor promoted to Master, namely Master Mark Hutton VII Degree. Master Hutton’s achievements and contribution are well documented and it was a great moment to have these two presentations side by side in front of so many people.

A great event followed and we would like to thank all those that travelled from afar and of course the dedication and commitment of all the officials who gave up their time and allowed the event to happen.