The Teenage Ninja Turtles had better watch out because Swindon has its own group of martial arts experts.

Principal Academy UK students were treated to a trip to Spain to train with the Ninja Grandmaster Dr Masaaki Hatsumi.

Marc Moor, the group's instructor and a former bodyguard, has run Ninjitsu classes in Swindon, Cheltenham and Gloucester since he founded the academy in July 2000.

He said: "This bi-annual event is called a Taikai. All the Academy students who went to Madrid had a truly fantastic time.

"For most of the group it was their first experience at seeing and training with the 34th Ninjitsu Grandmaster. Despite his 71 years, he is still a true master of the art and a very funny man."

Over 600 students from 35 countries attended the three-day training course. The age range of those attending went from eight right up to seniors in their eighties.

Another rare sight in martial arts was the variety of shapes and sizes of the trainees.

Marc said: "The art of Ninjitsu is not at all concerned with sporting matters. It is a pure self-protection system, developed on the battlefields of Japan for over a thousand years."