HUGE pride has been felt by a taekwondo instructor after he was inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame.

Mike Beard who runs Falmouth's First Defence Black Belt School alongside classes in Helston and Hayle was presented with a gold award at a recent event in Burton-upon-Trent.

He is the first instructor from the South West to receive the prize and it comes 25 years after Beard started training, saying he never dreamt of getting an award like this.

"This is a real honour to be rewarded with such a prestigious award," he said.

"I accepted the award on behalf of all our instructors, students and parents that have supported us over the year.

"We have invested in Falmouth with our own state of the art training centre and we will continue to help youngsters and adults through martial arts training.

"Martial arts help so many people with confidence issues, ADHD, dyspraxia, self esteem and respect and we create leaders in society which in turn helps others."

Relatives and fellow taekwondo instructors at First Defence have also been in the prizes recently alongside Beard.

At the EFC Summit, Nikola Beard was awarded the Program Director Award while Robert Beard picked up an Instructor Award.