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Bodyguards & Assassins movie

Click to view the UK trailer for the forthcoming release of Bodyguards & Assassins, starring Donnie Yen.

Donnie Yen is deservedly well known and well respected for both his Wushu skills and his cinematic performances, and his profile has been further enhanced following his excellent 2009 portrayal of Ip Man, the legendary Grandmaster of Wing Chun and teacher of Bruce Lee. May 2010 sees the UK release of this, his latest historical action movie entitled Bodyguards & Assassins.

The movie tells the story of Dr Sun Yat-Sen, arriving in Hong Kong on October 15th 1905 for a secret meeting to establish a united anti-Qing front. Dr Yat-Sen goes on to instigate the 1911 revolution that overthows the Qing Dynasty, becoming the father of modern China. However the path to this event is fraught with peril, as in the fine traditions of Asian martial arts cinema, he and his five bodyguards must survive numerous, relentless attempts on his life from the lethal assassins that seek to prevent the meeting.

Escrima workshop

Wayne Tappin 3TG teaching an Escrima Workshop at Chessington.
Wayne Tappin 3TG visited our Chessington School to run an Escrima Workshop in March 2010.

On Thursday 11th March we welcomed Wayne Tappin to our Chessington School to run a workshop in Escrima, which is our primary armed discipline. Wayne holds the 3rd Technician rank (3TG) in the Escrima Concepts System and is the son of Master Steve Tappin who developed the system.

We spent the two-hour session exploring just how the Basic Box and Figure-8 concepts fit together, and seeing how they are really one & the same thing. Wayne took the class through drills & exercises to illustrate this point, which was split to allow the more senior students to work harder & faster. No matter what their grade, everyone took something away from the session and we look forward to seeing Wayne again at our end-of-term event later this month.

Instructor training

Some of the UKKFF instructors relaxing at the New Malden HQ.
Some of our instructors posing for a sensible photo. Thankfully the others were upstairs doing some training.

Saturday 13th March saw all UKKFF instructors and school owners visit the New Malden HQ for another session of our Instructor Training Programme, which was designed by our Head Instructor to deliver the skills & supporting knowledge required to teach our martial arts training programmes effectively.

We now have instructors ranging in experience from assistant to senior, so the session was split into groups to work different programmes and cater for the current requirements of each instructor. There was also an informal session with the school owners to discuss current & forthcoming events at their clubs, and to share best practice with each other. Thanks to everyone for attending, and we'll see you on the next one.

Introduction to kung-fu at RUTC

Instructor Joe Jackson-Taylor teaching at Richmond-upon-Thames College.
Our instructor Joe Jackson-Taylor helping RUTC students with an introduction to Kung-Fu.

At the start of 2010 we were again engaged by Richmond-Upon-Thames College to run another 10-week 'Introduction To Kung-Fu' course for their students, following on from our first successful course in 2009. Our instructor Joe Jackson-Taylor arranged & taught both of these courses, and the feedback from both staff and participating students has been uniformly excellent. A big thanks to Joe and everyone who took part, and we'll be running another one later in 2010.

RUTC made this initiative possible by using funding supplied by the England Sports Council as part of their Sports Unlimited programme. If other schools would like a similar course on Kung-Fu, Escrima, Grappling, Historical Weapons, Qigong, Self-Defence or Health & Fitness, please contact us to discuss your needs.

Debut album launch

Small Town Eyes, the debut album by our member Justin Sandercoe, is released on 28th Feb 2010.
'Small Town Eyes' is the debut solo album by our member Justin Sandercoe, who is known worldwide for his YouTube guitar tuition.

Oddly enough, our members do have lives outside of their martial arts training, and many of them are very well known in their respective fields. One such member is Justin Sandercoe, who is known worldwide for his superb free guitar lessons on YouTube and his own website www.justinguitar.com. Plus he's in demand as a teacher & musician in his own right, having played for years with many big names such as Katie Melua. He's also one of the Top 5 most downloaded people on YouTube, which is a real achievement, but he's not finished yet.

February 28th sees the release of his debut solo album 'Small Town Eyes' which is available to order now through iTunes, or in all good record shops on the day of release. We have an advance copy of the album at the HQ, and it's been on the stereo rather a lot. All of us at the UKKFF wish Justin all the very best with this venture, but don't think for a moment we're going to stop trying to hit you. :-))

Snowball fight!

Extreme UK Weather, January 10
Shao, Mark, Sasha, Oliver & Joe doing additional training vs. snowballs outside our Chessington club in January 2010.

January 2010 saw the UK visited by another round of cold weather, with lots of sub-zero temperatures, sleet, and up to 10 inches of snow in & around SW London. Many people chose not to venture out to work or to their hobbies, choosing instead to stay inside and watch TV, however we are happy to report that all UKKFF classes remained open, although numbers seemed to be a bit lower than usual. If YOU were one of those who looked out the window and thought it was a bit too nippy to come training, then we think you need a bit more martial spirit, for sure.

There were some extra benefits though - the impromptu snowball fights after class were all top fun and a great way to keep warm. More snow please, as we need a rematch!

Chum-kiu instructional video

UKKFF Chum-Kiu Video, January 10
The UKKFF releases another downloadable & web-streamed video clip on the unique Federation Wing Tsun Kung-Fu System.

On the 9th January, the UKKFF released two versions of our second instructional video clip, this time a complete demonstration of the Chum-Kiu form, the secondary 'toolkit' of our very own Federation Wing Tsun System. This complements our first video of the Siu-Nim-Tao form which was released back in November 09.

Our CK form is demonstrated in full by Sifu Lee Paul Heron, the UKKFF Head Instructor. Once again the video features captions listing all the key techniques, section-by-section. It also features short explanations of each of the forms three parts, for help during training.

In keeping with our non-profit ethos, a reduced-quality version is available FREE to all members via a streamed video player in our members area. There is also a high-quality version optimized for iPhone, iPod and other mobile devices available to purchase & download via our online shop.

New trainee instructor

Scott Wakeham, the UKKFF's newest trainee instructor.
The UKKFF welcomes Scott Wakeham to the instructor team as a trainee, after his successful 3-month probation period.

On the 4th January the UKKFF reconvened for the 2010 Winter Term, but with a new addition to our growing instructor team. Having satisfied the requirements for entry onto the Instructor Training Programme, Scott Wakeham expressed the desire to teach others and has subsequently spent the last 3 months completing his compulsory probation period at our Kingston school. Having successfully passed probation, we are now proud to welcome him as a trainee instructor. Scott will continue at Kingston under the guidance of our head instructor, where he will be responsible for overseeing the progress of our new beginners in Kung-Fu.

A teacher of English by profession, Scott is currently at 11SG in Kung-Fu, 4SG in Escrima, and is starting out in Grappling. He joined the UKKFF as a complete beginner in March 2006, and has since trained regularly in classes, workshops & seminars. We are very happy to see him continue to move forward with us.

All done with 2010? Go back to 2009