News

This page shares the latest news from LCTKD, including news of recent events and celebrations.

For information about class changes contact your Instructor or see our Facebook page.

100 Spars

Many congratulations to all involved in a fun day at Mr Knight's Broom TKD and SAMA classes. 100 bouts of sparring, with fancy dress involved! A big thanks, too, for adjudicator Mrs Helen M F Hall, who would really liked to have joined in.

Click on the Facebook "f" icon at the top of this post to see all the photos from the event on our Facebook page - which you don't need a Facebook account to view.

Wayfinder

Wayfinder. That's the name of our AI app that helps you find exactly what you want in our extensive website. You can access it by clicking on the link on our home page (or just in the image above). At the moment, it's only available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers, so if that's you, give it a go! We're working on how to make it available to everyone, so look out for more on that.

Bredon Hill Cup

What an incredible finals day! All the overall results are now up on our Bredon Hill Cup page.

Click on the Facebook "f" icon at the top of this post to see photos from finals day on our Facebook page - which you don't need a Facebook account to view.

Our Handbook Goes AI

That's right. The video shows you the AI version of our Complete TaeKwonDo Handbook in action. You can ask questions of it and it brings you the answer from what's in the Handbook. After our experiment with a free to all version didn't go so well, for now it is restricted only to those with a ChatGPT Plus account. If you have that, try it out at the link below.

Happy Anniversary Chinatown!

It's already ten years since Mr Jon Alagoa took over as the lead Instructor in Chinatown. He has seen the classes through the lockdowns and brought them back with great success. Here he is with students from the adult class, including most senior students Miss Angela Sun, Mr Toby Fisher, Mr Sorabain de Lioncourt and Miss Connie Wong.

Happy Anniversary Tai Chi!

It's 10 years since we first started teaching Tai Chi in public classes. A long time student of Tai Chi, our Chief Instructor Neil R. Hall had been teaching it to students of Ensodo for some time. A number of people, including Ensodo Instructor Joe Aspey, and TaeKwonDo Grand Master Jason Wadley, encouraged him to start teaching Tai Chi in its own right in public classes.

To celebrate World Tai Chi Day in April, 2013, he taught a session at the wonderful Batsford Arboretum. In the autumn, he taught a short course at the Arboretum. David O'Brien was one of the attendees, and he went on to attend regular classes at the there. On becoming an Instructor some years later he began to share in the teaching at the Arboretum, eventually becoming the main Instructor, as well as teaching in other places like Lower Swell in the Cotswolds and Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire.

David now lives in Broadway, in the Cotswolds, and is teaching a new Tai Chi and Qigong course at the beautful Broadway Museum and Art Gallery. The autumn course is fully booked already, but look out for news of the January course, the date of which will be fixed soon.

As Neil R. Hall started to teach more classes, some experienced Tai Chi teachers joined us, and over time many more came through the ranks from beginner at LCTKD. Now, we are proud to be one of the biggest Tai Chi schools in the country, with an excellent team of well qualified Instructors, and classes across Worcestershire.

That includes a new class taught by Sheriden Rollo in Bournheath, Bromsgrove, which has just started.

Special Guest at Mugai Ryu

With an unfortunate set of illness and injury sadly stopping half of our usual attendees from getting there, it was a smaller group than usual to work with Sensei Luciano Morgenstern, Head of Mugai Ryu Europe, when he came to the UK along with Andreas Laskowski. But still a fascinating and unforgettable time was had by those fortunate enough to go. Well done to all! Plus, many congratulations to John Cartwright who graded to nikyu and Robert Tyrrell who graded to ikkyu. Also to Tutor Mark Nind who completed the first part of his nikyu (2nd Dan) grading.

In the photo, Mark (on the right) receives a special Tsuji Gettan makimono on behalf of LCTKD from Sensei Luciano (in the centre). This very special gift recognises us and connects us to the founder of Mugai Ryu.

TaeKwonDo Patterns

Ensodo Instructor Lisa Williams came along to watch and advise at Neil R. Hall's workshop on Timing in TaeKwonDo Patterns. Well done to all involved, who in our usual cross-fertilisation from our other arts even got to use Tai Chi fans to help them find the right rhythm in their movement.

Naginata

Certainly a highlight of the year, when TaeKwonDo and SAMA students joined Ensodo and Iaido students at workshop in the traditional Japanese weapon, the Naginata. Many thanks to Sensei David Jackson and Sensei Mark Ashman of Inyoshin for teaching this great workshop.