Newsletter
January 2025
New Year Special

Welcome

Hi, and welcome to 2025.  Happy New year to you all.  It's been an amazing year in 2024 full of events, gradings and other achievements.  In this edition of the WCI Telford newsletter lets take a look at how we closed our year to start the new.  

First let me welcome our latest new member Sonia S.  It's fantastic to have your as part of our Family here at WCI Telford.

Secondly I would like to welcome Jareth R who was trained Wing Chun as part of the Little Dragons and Junior Warriors Programme and has now graduated up to the adults class. 

Gradings
Congratulations to everybody who graded in December to finish the Year:
Phase 1
  Grade 1
    Nick S
    Dan H
    Tom B
  Grade 2 
    Adrian D
  Grade 4 
    Jay S

Phase 2 
  Grade 6
    Ethan R
    Kev F
  Grade 8
    Rich S

Phase 3 
  Grade 9
    Nicole J

Grade 12
It's always a proud moment to see a student achieve a big benchmark in their journey.  Grade 12 is significant because it demonstrates the commitment a student has shown to their training and learning.  To end 2024 we extend a big congratulations to our almost septuagenarian student John Fraser.  Well done on completing phase 3 of our Wing Chun beginners programme.  This is not the end of your journey, rather it is the beginning.  Phase 4 is now about understanding the depth of the Wing Chun system and becoming skilled in it's application.

Thank You as always to our amazing phase 4 students and Sifu Mark for taking time to help students through their gradings .

Technician Grades
Another very special moment for any school is to see their beginner students qualify as technicians in the art.  Technician grades are significant in that students have to demonstrate their ability to use and understand the Wing Chun system. The grading of technicians is undertaken at Master Class overseen by Master Andrew Cameron so it can be very daunting for students to demonstrate their skills and represent our school to the international Governing body.    I am very pleased to announce the latest additions to the technician ranks after successfully grading.  
Congratulations:

1st degree technician
Gary Tennant
Mohsen Moradi

Knife and bladed W.E.A.P.O.N awareness
To end the year of 2024 we held a special seminar between Christmas and New Year.  This was the first seminar hosted by our school and aimed to increase the awareness and skills of the attendees.  During the course we examined the dangers of knives compared to other weapons, the law in the UK concerning self defence, situational awareness, and practical skills designed to help avoid situations involving knives and bladed weapons and to improve your chances of survival.  This is a standalone course drawing from the police experience and legal knowledge of Sifu David and applying self defence principles from a Wing Chun perspective.  We look forward to the next opportunity to repeat this course.

Onward and Upward into 2025
As we take our first steps into 2025 I am optimistic of our school and our family members all achieving great things this year, individually and together.  Let's step boldly into the new year and start as we mean to continue.  For myself I am starting this year by exploring my own health and incorporating a holistic health approach to the way I teach and coach every student.  This starts with studying health and nutrition and Qigong as well as my Wing Chun to lead by example and keep improving myself so that I can help you do the same.