Teesdale martial arts master is inducted into hall of fame

A DALE martial arts instructor has become one of only four Britons to be inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame this year.

Master Bryan Whiley, from Butterknowle, earned the accolade as an “outstanding pioneer instructor”.

The citation was conferred during a ceremony at the Mid Town Hilton, in New York.

Mr Whiley is renowned for starting a number of training centres across the country despite coming to the sport quite late in life.

The award was presented by Grand Master Gerard Robbins.

Mr Whiley said: “There were over 200 people in the room. It was surreal. At the time it doesn’t feel real. I never in my wildest dreams thought this would happen to me.

“I was really pleased when I read the citation. I was really proud but humbled at the same time.”

Mr Whiley took up the martial art purely by chance after taking his son to a class and became captivated. While his son gave up the sport, Mr Whiley went on to create the Baek Ho group of taekwondo clubs and even gave up his job as a deputy head teacher to practise the sport full time.

Despite having travelled much of the world through the martial art and being appointed as an international referee, it was the first time that Mr Whiley and his wife Klara had visited New York.

He said: “It is not somewhere we had ever planned to go. It was amazing. You almost feel you know the place because you see it so much in the movies. One of the high points was I got to sit next to one of Bob Dylan’s guitars in the Hard Rock Cafe.”

The couple are well known in Teesdale for their love of music – performing with the band Buttonhole Jam – and organising the open mic sessions at Butterknowle Village Hall.

As part of their trip the couple visited Radio City music hall where they watched a performance by country singer Alison Krauss, whose songs Mrs Whiley regularly performs.

Although Mr Whiley has handed his classes over to his top instructors, he continues to run a weekly taekwondo class for people over the age of 50 at Butterknowle. He also continues to be a senior examiner and complete gradings throughout the north.

He hopes the accolade will help inspire others.

He said: “I am saying to my students if a little guy from Teesdale can achieve this, you can too.

“­It is a way of saying look what you can achieve.”