		www.Longfei-Taiji.co.uk	Longfei Taijiquan Association of Great Britain
		Longfei Newsletter Volume 6 Issue 3

Letter from the Chairman

I usually start preparing the January newsletter in September when summer is barely over so the events of July and August are still fresh in the mind. 2005 was the 10th anniversary of our annual event in Wolverhampton. Although Simon and I began the Longfei adventure in 1990/1 just the two of us with of course the help and backing of Professor Li and his family we would, had we been able to look into the proverbial crystal ball, have been very happy with the way the future was to progress.

Wolverhampton

The Summer Camp was again full to capacity with a group of 75 sitting down to lunch. The training schedule was varied and rich in content and there will be some changes for 2006 which I am sure delegates will find exciting.

Hertfordshire

The numbers attending the weekend workshop for the 42 competition routine was a little disappointing. It was however a wonderful weekend and I have received some great and positive feedback from our students, many of whom were studying this routine for the second and third time. We will repeat this format in 2006 and hope more of you will take advantage of the opportunity to work with Professor Li. Remember all Professor Lis workshops are fresh with new insights unfolding and he has the unique ability to respond to the requirements of his audience.

James Drewe's First London Workshop

James took the bull by the horns this year and invited Professor Li to bring his expertise to a large group of his students. The seminar took place at the contemporary dance centre just off the Euston Road. The workshop covered the 24 Simplified Routine and I understand there were over 60 of us for the day. Well done James. We will be repeating this venture in 2006.

Xingyi Workshop, Codicote

Simon presented his annual day of xing yi, the same weekend as James workshop. Xingyi attracts a specialist group of students which increase a little each year. This year a small group of students arrived from Manchester, welcome to them and well done Simon for your persistence.

International Recognition

This year's attendance at Wolverhampton included a couple of Master Wangs students from Sweden, Mark Atkinson with his wife Christine and one other student from France, our buddies from Scotland and our friends from Jersey. We have just enrolled our first Spanish student: a gentleman with 18 years experience with Chinese martial arts who located us through our website. And Mike Graves has been in contact expressing a wish to carry the Longfei flag to St Antonio, USA. Some of you may remember Mike who trained with us in the mid to late 1990s and was a student with David Nicholson. Mike was in Britain serving in the United States Air Force.

Schedule for Wolverhampton 2006

The training programme for Walsall will change in 2006. There will be three new items: the Competition Routine of the Sun Style 73 Form; the 56 Yang Style Jian; the Yang Style Dao. In addition we will re-introduce the 88 Standardised Yang Style Taijiquan. Only the Taiji Gung Fu Fan and the Simplified 24 remains from the 2005 programme. The full programme is as follows:

Simon Watson:

73 Sun Style Competition Routine (am)
Taiji Gung Fu Fan (pm)

Master Wang: 

88 Standardised Yang Style (am)
24 Simplified Taijiquan (pm)

Professor Li: 

Yang Style Jian (sword) (am)
Yang Style Dao (broad sword) (pm)

For those wishing to continue with the Chen style please be reassured this form will be back in the future. Pushing hands will also be included and appear in the final programme. The booking form for next years events will accompany this newsletter or can be downloaded from the internet.

Master Wang Yanji

Master Wang and the U3A group, with Richard and Simon Watson

Richard and Simon Watsons U3A students meet Master Wang and are amazed by his taiji skills.

Earlier this year Master Wang came over for his spring visit. His first weekend was spent in Glasgow where Derek Daly hosted the visit. Simon and I accompanied Master Wang on his annual visit. These weekends in Glasgow with Master Wang and Professor Li in the summer cover a wide range of the taijiquan routines and are well worth a visit over the border. How about it? In the spring there will be a week of workshops with Master Wang covering a range of subjects including taijiquan, tui shou, xingyi, bagua, san shou. During his 2005 visit Master Wang attended an invitation to demonstrate his skills to a combined gathering of our U3A students. The demo included Five Elements xingyi, several animal forms, bagua, taijiquan and a number of weapon forms. Needless to say they were enthralled. See photo on page 1.

Anne Gathercole visits Chenjiagou: Anne accompanied us on our first Longfei trip to China and she must have caught the bug, for here she is less than a year later enjoying a second visit. This journey took Anne to Chenjiagou the ancestral home of Chen style taijiquan and the site to which Yang Lu Chan travelled and subsequently created the Yang style. The visit also embraced a visit to the Shaolin Temple. Read her report with relish. Annes been involved with taiji for many years and studies with Chen Xiao Wang assiduously at every opportunity. Shes a great asset to Longfei.

Richard Small and a Seminar in North Devon

During the course of a year Simon gets invited to teach throughout the United Kingdom. In 2005 he will have travelled to Kent, Jersey, Glasgow, Wolverhampton and on this occasion he was visiting North Devon for the second time. Richard Small has submitted his impression of the days activity. Thanks Richard.

David Arnold's Eskrima Evening

David Arnold was our second guest instructor for 2005. Guest instructors are invited to give workshops to our advanced class on Friday evening. David will be returning on a future engagement yet to be announced. His workshop proved to be immensely popular and was received with great enthusiasm. The feedback has been very positive and we look forward to many more visits from David. He was kind enough to send me a brief introduction to the Filipino Martial Arts with the contents of the seminar. David's association is the UK Quan Fa Martial Arts Academy.

Wolverhampton Taiji Quiz

For those unable to attend the Summer Camp perhaps you would like to test your knowledge on this year's brain teaser see Quiz

Longfei DVD

Simon produces our first home-grown DVD. By the time this newsletter is in circulation so will Simons long-awaited DVD. Unlike some homemade videos this is a professional product in every way. We hope it will fill a special niche in the market and have wide appeal to the novice and the experienced practitioner. We will of course be delighted with your support in the venture.

Richard Watson

Longfei Newsletter Volume 6 Issue 3 Table of Contents