Weston Wing Chun
A School of
Close Quarter Combat
Holders of a "Milineum Award" for an 
outstanding contribution to British Martial Arts
 
0781 234  6025

History and Philosophy

 

 

 

OUR HISTORY
Wing Chun of our particular lineage has been taught in Weston Super Mare since 1973 and at this location since the late 1980's I believe we are the longest running martial arts club in the Weston Super Mare Area. Our version of the Wing Chun system was learned by an Englishman named Ian Dolby who was taught by Master Chan in Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Ian, (the history gets a bit vague here), was taught a number of martial arts by Master Chan who I believe was a pharmacist and quite famous Sifu of various martial arts. (He featured in the BBC documentary “The way of the warrior”), Master Chan taught Hung Kuen and Bagua and I believe Drag Poi along side Wing Chun. Initially when brought to this country the Wing Chun was taught along side a range of other Chinese and Tibetan arts and evolved to encompass some of their teachings and techniques.

At some point in the  late 1980’s early 1990's the Weston Super Mare Chinese Martial Arts Association broke up with various instructors going off to do their own thing. It was at this point that that Weston Wing Chun was opened by Jason Seaton, a club specializing in just Wing Chun . 

We located some of the old posters and art work for clubs at Yatton and the old Weston Chinese Martial Arts Association founded by Ian Dolby. The artwork on some of their club T shirts and posters was quite outstanding, I believe some of it was done by an Audy Kelly in the late 1980's.

 

 

Jason along with his own instructor taught Wing Chun here, (at Weston Super Mare Wing Chun Club), and in 1990 my own instructor Ian Fletcher, began his Wing Chun training. Ian trained and taught here until 1998 when he left the area and I as his senior took over the running of the club. The training up to this point had been very hard and produced a very, very effective combat system.

As the current instructor my task is to build on this foundation and the way I have chosen to do this is to “import” expertise. We train in traditional wing chun but retain our individual heritage by also training in the heretical and by now quite westernised, Weston Wing Chun, (named after the location).This version was particularly aggressive with a great emphasis on street combat and realistic training.  We are the only school that I am aware of that is able to offer this version of the wing chun system, plus the traditional hong kong version.

We train in the traditional style for skill, finesse and a solid foundation, we train in Weston Wing Chun as it offers a more aggressive westernized approach with a slightly different set of tools. The two styles compliment each other very well and I believe offers students variety with a good realistic grounding in Wing Chun.. This flexibility prevents us becoming isolated or unrealistic about our own abilities and helps us to maintain an open mind. Realism and effectiveness are the cornerstone of what we offer.

My own instructor once said to me that “No Martial Art has all the answers” , whist I agree whole heartedly with him I would add," BECAUSE Wing Chun has most of them”

OUR PHILOSOPHY
Wing Chun has a wonderful approach to learning. You “play" with your "Kung Fu Family", who are there to help you “play”.  You “play” hard to improve yourself and hard to improve your family. The better they get the better you get ! You give time to your partner for them to learn and they do the same for you. At advanced levels students may fight very hard indeed but they always help their partner and allow them the opportunity to learn. You can play as hard or softly as you wish, it’s your kung fu you choose. In this manner we can train the fit, the unfit, the young and the old, all choose their own path.. This combined with Wing Chun's basic techniques and strategy makes for a formidable  form of self defence which I truly believe is unexcelled by anything in terms of practical street self defence, or the amount of time it remains useful to you. With increasing age may come decreasing physical abilities, but also come increasing skill, technique and wisdom.. You can practice and defend yourself if you are young, old, fit or unfit. Wing Chun is like a fine wine in that it improves with age, older practioners can overcome younger practioners because of their greater experience and expertise in the art. If you want to learn a complete art that you can use throughout your life there are few alternatives to Wing Chun Gung Fu.

What we offer students

· A qualified Black belt instructor

        · Non competitive training 

· Seminars under Sifu Andrew Holmes and Master Samuel Kwok and others

· Instructor training for those interested

· An unexcelled form of self defence for all, especially smaller framed or female students of any age or physical ability. Physically disabled most welcome.

· Guest Instructors at the club

 
 
Members of
The British National Martial Arts Association

Combat Sports Worldwide

 

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Copyright © 2000 Weston Wing Chun
Last modified: October 03, 2001