Wing Chun Kung Fu & Kali Eskrima
In Reading (Berkshire), Wycombe (Buckinghamshire), and Dartford (Kent), UK.

In January 2005 I was also contacted by the Greek edition of Black Belt Magazine and they requested an interview. At the same time, I decided to release my first Wing Chun DVD called 'Inquisitive Hands'

Black Belt Magazine (Greek Edition) Article

After the article was published I had a tremendous response from lots of Greeks martial artists and they were very curious to come and find out about my Wing Chun, my lineage, and a way of practising Wing Chun that differed from their own.

Unfortunately I received a ridiculous e-mail from a kung fu organisation in Greece telling me that I cannot hold wing chun workshops in Greece. Why? I ignored their email and instead invited them to come to my workshop and keep an open mind towards kung fu rather than preventing Wing Chun from entering Greece. They never did turn up!

I started with a day workshop covering structure, two hands, and foot work. This was one of the best workshops we've ever had abroad. We stayed in Athens for the rest of the week continuing the main workshop and training Wing Chun concepts with more emphasis on Chum Kiu and footwork. By now all the attendees - including students from France, England, Scotland, Wales, Greece, and Italy - had a good understanding about this phenomenonal system and how it can be applied.

During this annual summer workshop I was very lucky to have as assitants Craig Harry, David Munro, Dan Creswell, John Hawthorn, Matt Dunckley, Brian Hames, and Arlene Davis (she was also a good organiser for the whole event), and I discovered new talents within my group like Alex Metaxas, Nick Gallagher, David Tilly, Sosthène Grosset-Janin from France and now based in Spain, Tony Chamberlain who now lives in Athens Greece, and many more. Thank you all.

Vagelis Zorbas, a JKD practitioner in Greece, along with his assistants and other practitioners were the first to book their place at the workshop followed by other individual Wing Chun practitioners from other Wing Chun schools in Greece. Credit to all of them for attending my workshop!

I've been told that they were overwhelmed by what Wing Chun can offer. After the first of training some attendees left to return to their home and a group from the Reading Academy along with JKD instructor Vagelis Zorbas, his students, and couple of individuals from other martial systems continued on to the beautiful island of Spetses, where I did a Wooden Dummy workshop at the local kung fu club.

Dan Creswell and David Munro were an outstanding assistants. Thank you all. We had great time on the island and during the nights we stayed on the beach and swan in the moon-lite ocean while David Tilly entertained us with his guitar. In the morning we hired a boat to cruise around the island.

After our return to the UK and a good long think with my students we decided that the 4th annual summer workshop should take place in the Reading Kwoon (Main School in Berkshire) so that even more of our students can have the opportunity to come and experience that festive Wing Chun time.

Photographs

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