Sacred Springs Martial Arts Festival Lynton North Devon UK March 2010
The 26/27th and 28th March 2010 saw Jo Biggs’ Sacred Springs Martial Arts Festival in Lynton, North Devon UK taking place and for another year I was invited back to teach, which was a great honour.
I arrived Friday mid afternoon to the greetings from old friends, Maynard, Paul and Leslie King, Jon, Missy, Steve Moxey, John Hurley, Adam Saunders and of course Jo and James. I was scheduled for the last class of the day and just like past events there were a good number of students on the floor who had been training for most of the day. Having been given the last slot I decided it was time to share some of Kenpo Knife techniques and proceeded to teach Entwined Lance, as usual there was a good splattering of terminology and getting them to think about what they were doing, which is never easy when you are on at the end of the day. It went down very well with excellent participation and comments afterwards.
That evening a few of the Instructors got together for a meal at the Village Inn, they were all a bit concerned as they knew that the Swedish group where on their way to North Devon and had left the airport in the UK at one o’clock that afternoon and eight hours later they still had not arrived!! - Finally though they all turned up after 9 hours of driving and trying to find North Devon! I was introduced to a few of the group and at that time had no idea what they were called! It was then off to the Bridge Inn for a drink and a chat and thanks to Mark none of us had to walk UP Lynton hill as that would have put an end to most of us!!! That evening I had a long chat with Nick around some of the principles that I had spoken about that afternoon, thanks Nick for your patience. Mark and I then left the Inn to walk home as most had had a drink and were not driving. Mark was staying at Lynton and I was staying at Lynmouth, which meant us parting ways to go on to our respective B&Bs. Mark had a short walk up the hill and I had a long walk DOWN Lynton hill!! If you know this infamous hill you will know what I mean when I say its damn steep! Once you start going down the hill its hard to stop as Amrik found out last year. It was not until the next day that I realised how much work my legs had been doing to stop me hurtling down the hill into the Sea, as my Quads had seized!!!!
Saturday morning saw the event getting into full swing with the hall as usual packed with both adult and junior students who had their own training room downstairs. I was scheduled to teach just after lunch. For this Session I chose to do some SL3 AOD techniques with the application of the blocks. I chose Christian, one of the biggest Swedish guys there to test my block on and he did not hold back on delivering the punch that’s all I can say, after which he stood there for a while and looked at me with a very stern face, saying “Swedish Steel!!!” lol. Karl and Mark were also subjected to a few tests and I would like to thank you all for your help, respect and willingness to participate, learn and “feel to believe”
Paul King and his group were on the mats most of the time working out to every Seminar given, you are an inspiration Paul.
The closing session saw the Mayor of Lynton turn up to give a short speech and help with the presentation of a well deserved few grades, which came as a shock to a few. Congratulations to everyone that attained their next grade namely, Paul King, Steve Moxey, Julie Williams, Nick Martin, Mark Craddock, Maurice and Karl - sorry if I missed anyone.
Saturday evening and Jen turned up. We decided to eat at the Village Inn and after freshening up we went down to the bar, as we walked in the first person that we saw was an old Kenpo friend, one that we had not seen nor spoken to for many years and to be honest the last person that either of us expected to see in this tucked away beautiful part of the UK. We had a few drinks together, talked about the old days and I MEAN the old days, as this guy was a purple belt in Kenpo when Jen and I started training in Kenpo and was responsible for finding the York Road studio in Exeter into which we both walked and where it still stands today some 30 years later. After a great meal it was back to the Bridge Inn to catch up with old friends and talk with new ones. This was my first real chance to talk with Mats the Swedish instructor - what a great guy with awesome ability as well.
Sunday arrived and everyone was still going strong, well most of them anyway. There were a few casualties from the Saturday night session I believe, one of which we later found out was Amrik and his “encounter” with the “Beast from the Valley of the Rocks!” “It came out of nowhere “ were his words!! - the rest is up to your imagination but needless to say the newly formed Facebook Group “Amrik Gets Goated” may give you some idea lol!!!
My Sunday session was designed around 2 person attacks - something that the Jujitsu guys found very interesting. I also found out to the delights of Karl that they do not wear Boxes when training “ooops “ sorry Karl……J They all had great fun, some found the idea of two attackers a bit daunting, sometimes forgetting that one of the attackers had a mate, especially John’s student from Luton who was so pleased with himself having dealt with one of the attackers, until I shouted “his mate his mate” he then realised he was behind him again!!! Mats group also took on the information well with an eagerness to hit, which seemed to be a trait of theirs lol. Thank you as always to my two helpers Amrik and Matt for being my dummies - although Matt had no clue what the techniques were he threw himself into them with great gusto and as Amrik’s student and a purple belt is becoming a very accomplished martial artist to be proud of. I chose Matt over Ed, one of our students from London, as Matt took far too much pleasure in beating me at Pool the night before and then saying a little too loudly that he had “given me a chance” J
Over the weekend there were some great Instructors, an excellent range of material covered from, Jo Biggs, John from Luton, Steve Moxey, David Wilson, Maynard, Maurice, Karl, Gordon Lawson the Judo guy who was great, Marcia, Glen Lobo, Keith, James Price and some of his MMA guys and of course Mats Tverin the Ronin Do Instructor from Sweden, all in all a great line up of quality instructors with a “hugh” amount of experience. I was very honoured as always to be a part of this great annual event and my thanks to Jo Biggs for the invite again. Sorry if I missed anyone the list was long! I would recommend anyone attend this event next year if you get the chance, it is an open friendly gathering of martial arts Instructors and Students and an absolute pleasure to attend.
Black Belt International Training and Coaching Weekend - Bradford
The weekend started on Friday morning with Amrik arriving early for yet another long drive to the North of England! Not quite as far as Newcastle but still five and a half hours away through weekend traffic.Jenni and I had the boot of the car full and then more luggage! Amrik just can’t travel light ;-)
We all arrived safely in Bradford and received a very warm welcome from Paul Griffin and Pete Green - thanks guys!! - if the Black Belt International event was going to be as warm as the welcome then it could not have started better. We settled in to wait for Roy to arrive from London followed much later that night by his student Ed Avis. As soon as Roy arrived it was off into the city at the recommendation of Amrik to find the best Curry restaurant in the city and after asking one of the locals, we were guided to a restaurant she said was the best and as it turned out she was not wrong! -the curry was excellent and the Nann bread was the largest any of us had ever seen!!
Saturday morning started with Jenni and I setting up our display table prior to the Seminars commencing.The event was introduced by Paul Griffin, Pete Green and Jimmy Kirk and then it was all go from there onwards.Roy and I headed up to the top floor to start our Level 1, 2 and 3 Coaching Adults in Sport courses while Jenni and Amrik headed off to the main function rooms to man our display table and take part in the Workshops.
The Coaching Courses were spread over a very long 6 hours, which was however made very enjoyable by our trainer George. The group interacted well and we were all soon feeling like one big family which was great, it was also very interesting to see and hear other instructors explaining their basics and how they coach their students, all in all very interesting. Our group consisted of me, Roy, Martin, Richard and his partner.My thanks to you Richard for playing Devil’s advocate JDuring the afternoon break I sat down to have a chat with the course instructor George, only to find out seconds later that it was George Jaffray,an old Kenpo student who had trained under my original Instructor, what a surprise that turned out to be!All of a sudden there was not enough time to catch up on all the years that had passed in between, which was now some 15 years, where does the time go!!!! The course ended a little late due to George’s enthusiasm, but nobody fell asleep, which in my book is a great indication that everyone was kept engaged.
Meanwhile Amrik and Jenni were enjoying themselves doing the Arrest and Restraint Seminar taken by Steve Smith and throughout the day watching and taking part in several workshops including Dik Chance’s FAST Defence System, Samuel Kwok and Dr Tom Hamilton’sWing Chung and Chi Kung, Miss Emma Elmes’ incredible stretching and kicking XMA workshop and last but certainly not least Mr Chris Jones with his Fight Choreography workshop and Mr Chris Crudeli and his ABC Combat system. The Kenpo Kards went down a storm with the kids and soon we were out of the children’s sample packs and our display table was constantly surrounded by children (not sure whether that was the Kenpo Kards or Amrik showing them tricks!)
We then had a couple of hours to get ready for the Gala dinner, plenty of time, until the upstairs shower in the room above flooded our bathroom!!!!!
We all met downstairs in the bar suited and booted!! - Amrik and I were in our DJ’s while Roy and Ed did their best smart casual as no one had told them it was a dress up do!! - I suppose that was down to me then lol!Jenni was as usual looking her glamorous self at this type of event.Our table consisted of Andy Manwaring, his wife and son, Chris and Cathy Beaumont our new friends who it turned out were from Plymouth, what a great couple. Several awards were presented throughout the evening and I was honoured to be presented with an Instructors Award. The entertainment was kicked off by an excellent display from Miss Emma Elmes, a very talented young lady followed by a three course sit down meal and disco.Later that evening I had a chance to catch up with George and am looking forward to interacting more and seeing him again soon. At this point I must say sorry to Amrik again for allowing my cufflink to come into contact with his chin while giving an impromptu demonstration to George!! Luckily Jenni was on hand with a “white” cotton napkin – it stopped bleeding eventually and luckily did not mark his dress shirt!! It was finally around 3am when we finally got to bed only to be up at 8am to start the next day.
My workshop started at 11am, which was a good time as people were just about awake by then lol!!It started with about 20 or so people and soon doubled as people showed a great interest in the material that I was covering.I must say thank you too Sean the MMA guy for agreeing to take the front punch and to the other guy whose name eludes me for taking the back fist - you guys were great!!During the Workshop I covered AOD Drills, Neuromuscular Body Programming [NMBP], psychology of confrontation and body alignment principles.The material was received and accepted with open minds and a great session was had by all.A big thank you goes to Roy and Ed for taking the brunt of my movement (while Amrik was on his Teaching Children and Young People in Sport course) -you guys both did a sterling job with the children and looked to really enjoy the interaction with the kids. Jenni as usual was on hand to make sure that I finished on time, which was a miracle and also took lots of pictures, please have a look on the Gallery.
The event was a great success thank you to all that helped, its always good to go away for this type of event with students and friends. A big thank you must go to Jimmy Kirk and his big brother Mark for ensuring that the workshops went well, were on time and that all our requirements were met. I really enjoyed talking to Martin the Kenpo Ryu guy, Sean from the West Midlands, Jimmy about blade work, Steve sat on the table next to our stand and your Instructor, I think it was Andy.Looking forward to all the feedback from those that purchased my Rapid Impact Combative DVDs and to all those that had the free Kenpo showcase disc - don’t forget now!
Finally we started the long drive home after another successful Martial Arts events where Kenpo was showcased, skills were gained and contacts and new friend were made – job done!
Newcastle 2009
Mid November saw Jenni and I making the long 7 hour drive to Newcastle in appalling weather at the invitation of Mike Ilderton,, Senior Instructor of East West Karate to teach Seminars for the benefit of Barretstown Castle. Barretstown improves the lives of children and their families affected by childhood cancer and other serious illnesses.
We arrived early evening at the Clifton House Hotel where we met Mike and his lovely wife Dee and met up with Diane Wheeler, Andy Fitzgerald and some of the other Instructors for a drink in the bar before getting some well-needed sleep.
After a good breakfast at the hotel we headed off to the venue where more Instructors began arriving and it was great to see fellow Kenpoists Les Grihalt with his partner Cleo as well as meeting Liam Brady again from Ireland. Also teaching at the event were Karen Wilde from the world of Shotokan and Stuart Lawson a Tai Jutsu Instructor. The morning started with each instructor taking a small group of children some of who received individual instruction. Jenni and I taught James (who was aged 10) an SL4 AOD drill and mixed it in with some counterpoint and to everyone’s amazement after 20 minutes we had him switching drills almost intuitively and proudly displayed his newfound skill to his Instructor Mike and then the whole group. Diane also taught a young junior brown belt the advanced Kenpo technique “begging hands” who then took great delight in showing the group using his instructor Mike as his “dummy” lol - all the children had a great time.
I was honoured to take the first adult session and covered Reversing Mace, with a few SL4 principles to get everyone going. Thank you to all the willing guinea pigs and the not so willing especially my old friend Ian Atkinson from Leeds. Andy, Jenni and I had a small session looking at the Book set during the day with Liam and Andy taking individual sessions followed by Karen Wild teaching some Shotokan. It is always good to see other instructors from the traditional arts mixing it up and sharing with Kenpo students. I took another session in the afternoon when we had a look at the psychology of confrontation in some detail. Thanks Liam and Diane for your thoughtful input and questions. The afternoon was finished with Les Grihalt taking a session on “Uncle George” with Cleo helping from the sidelines, which everyone enjoyed
Throughout the day Mike and a few others were making sure the children where all happy while the seniors had their time..
With everything coming to a close at about 3.30pm we all then went off to the Pub for a quick session, well maybe not so “quick” especially with Diane and Liam chairing the procedures, could not stop Di from talking LOL. Back then to the hotel for a quick turn around before going out again!
The evening saw us all gathered at Mike and Dee’s beautiful home for some good old fashion drinks and buffet, thank you both for your fantastic and gracious hospitality. It was good to chat to Mike in more relaxed circumstances and I was very impressed with a piece of artwork on the wall and impressed to find out Mike’s hidden talent as an artist.
Never one to miss an opportunity Jenni and I spent an extra day on a beautiful sunny Sunday taking in the city of Newcastle, with its historical bridges and buildings, in comparison the new Millennium bridge was so up to date and stunning, one city that I would recommend staying over in.
Finally the long journey home on Monday after a very enjoyable time in Newcastle and a successful event at which I believe some £500 was raised.
Jersey 2009
Early October saw me on a plane, all on my own off to Jersey at the kind invitation of Mr Roy MacDonald, to be met at the airport by my good friend Francois, who also opened his home and hospitality to me over the weekend, even though we were a bit later than planned in getting home on Friday night, due to me over running my first seminar that weekend by an hour! Typical I hear you say from those that know me, once I get started its hard to stop! Thank you Francois to Sharon and yourself
Saturday started at 10 and finished at 5, all that went in between was just great Kenpo, at the event was a fair amount of Roy’s students, we also had guys in from other groups like Ian Harris, Graham Lelliotts rep on the Island, who when asked to do a technique on me and did not hold back in cracking my ribs! (great shot Ian!) and another guy who’s name has escaped me at the moment. Thank you to all for being patient with me while I jumped around sharing SL4 and my Kenpo with you all. A special thank you to Richard for making me look good when I tapped his chin, sitting on his bum so quick, it could not have been planned any better! To Ken (Ray) for his very thoughtful thoughts! Also to Mr MacDonald for taking part, after nearly 40 years doing Kenpo he is still on the mat, doing what he loves.
Saturday night and we were all at the Boat House for a much-anticipated meal, only be told that they did not have a reservation for the 20 of us! Francois was having a heart attack with all the stress while we all chilled out, everything turn out great in the end though except that Ian never got his correct food order!
Sunday morning more seminars, this time with the Kids! They were so much fun! The morning was finished off with a very informal discussion with Roy and a few of his guys, really enjoyed the old stories from Roy. Finished off with me doing the Book Set at full pace!