Just wondering if any of you UK based practitioners are interested in organising/attending/assisting a get together similar to the friendship seminars that have been held in the states?
Obviously the event should be NON POLITICAL and just a meet up with some FRIENDLY comparisons, Chi Sau, meal and most importantly BEER!!!
I have discussed this before but nothing ever materialised due to lack of response.
IMHO this is the sort of thing we all need to become involved in to start to bring the family back together, rather than keep it fragmented like it is now.
Perhaps a combined event with all profits going to a reputable charity (Cancer research, NSPCC, Yip Man Tong etc)
Hi Dave - I suppose youd guessed Id reply ! But seriously though - this has been on my mind for some time.
Politics is ****, and im sure weve all been guilty of it at some point.
I would love to get together with all the kung fu brothers for a weekend. I can muster up quite a few from old pals in various associations. The hall I train in is pretty big, pemanent mook, loads of parking. Also Swansea is great for a knees up - coastal town, loads of cheap B&B’s, tons of pubs, great nightlife and the infamous Mumbles Mile pub crawl which is a top laugh.
I am more than happy to get involved in attending or orgainising, assuming theres enough interest.
What is the wing chun organisation for the UK? Also, if you have a list of member clubs, how many are in Scotland and where abouts are they? Help would be greatly appreciated.
Hughes - Sifu Kwok’s association has clubs in Glasgow and I think Edinburgh. If you go to Sifu Billy Davidsons site - www.chingmo.com - you will find a list of all instructors authorised by Samuel Kwok.
By the way Dave - I hope the friendship things doesnt fizzle out - Id be well up for it. Talking to 3/4 of my students on the weekend and they were well keen !!
I’d be well up for the get together depending on where it was held. Im sure a few of my mates would be interested too. How many people do you think we would need to get involved to make it work. Any sugestions for when it could take place?
Glad to see a few more responses here. I dont think we’d need that money to make it work (small acorns…). As i said earlier i could get quite a few from the South Wales area, and Swansea is a good place to eat, drink etc etc.
I dont mind travelling though if that suits people better. I guess the best time to hold it would be spring / summer.
I think events like these would go a long way to improving relations in the UK WC world. Lets make the effort and make it happen.
IMHO, this event should be more of an informal joint training,discussion session.
If we start comparing who does what best and try to judge each others quality there’s a danger of it turning into either a ego fluffer or an advertising opportunity.
The financial side isn’t important as there is no intention on my part to turn it into such.
the only thing is to cover costs for venue.
I don’t profess to my wing chun being all that special anyway.
As stated earlier, I’m just hoping we can start to break down a few barriers, recognise that even tho we all do things slightly differently, when it all boils down to it we are all the same style and the ‘BS’ that we as a system have gone through seems to be worse than any other.
Me personally, if someone can do something in a better way than i currently do, my ego isn’t bruised, i just want them to show me how to do it!!!
The venue should obviously be easily accessable to all, not overly expensive and able to hold enough people.
The numbers could be as many as possible tho a reasonable figure around 50 may be a start.
I just hope we can all look beyond the narrow minded attitudes of the past and bring the family back together.
I’m going to work on a shortlist of venues in various loactions in the uk, with the majority to make the final call.
Got Swansea down, also looking for venues in midland, london area, Newcastle/north east.
Would still like to give the event some sort of ‘timetable’ so it doesn’t just devolve into a ‘free for all’ or just have people stand around talking about last nites TV.
(honestly have seen this at a number of ‘seminars’)
I was thinking along the lines of:
Signing in / Registration.
Introductions.
Light Warm up.
general forms demo.
Refreshment break
Chi Sau
warm down.
Photos session
PUB
Obviously this is just a quick sort of ‘menu’ but it should be only a loose plan to give people some idea of what to expect.
Has a club running out of a full time Martial Arts Gym run by the Olympic Judo guy Wayne Lakin, it is in Hinckley which is half way between Leicester and Coventry. Very central and easy to get to,
Bags of room, permanent matted area, hard floor area.
If everyone wanted to come up here to newcastle as dave mentioned i would be more than happy to organise a place we could go and theres more pubs/clubs than we could possibly go to.
