AGM in Onecote: 23rd to 25th September 2005
Click the photos for larger versions. More photos can be found in the gallery.

The YTCCA have been visiting the tiny hamlet of Onecote on the edge of the Peak district for training weekends for a number of years now. Accommodation is a bit rough and ready, the training is quite intense but a good time is had by all and the food is always excellent. This year was no exception.

Saturday began, as these days usually do, with most people getting up early to do their own personal practice before the teaching sessions started. The morning dawned bright and sunny, if a little chilly at first, and the garden was soon dotted with people practicing Pa Tuan Jin, Chi Kung and Tai Chi Chuan, in preparation for the day's training.

One advantage of holding events at a venue like the Onecote farmhouse is the peace and serenity of the location, which certainly lends itself to the more contemplative practices involved in Chinese Internal Arts.

Saturday morning’s first formal session started with Sifu Rand leading the group through the Tai Chi Chuan Form; then moving on to a look at the applications, giving people a chance to practice them on each other. Sifu Rand placed particular emphasis on the eight different uses of power in Tai Chi Chuan, which are known as the ‘eight gates’ in the classics.  Everybody got a chance to discover the lessons contained within the techniques for themselves and Sifu Rand was on hand to give everybody personal guidance. Seeing the techniques demonstrated by an expert is a humbling, but inspiring, experience. While we may not be able to demonstrate Tai Chi Chuan with quite the same finesse, the hands-on instruction meant that everybody got a little better each time they practiced.

The afternoon Hsing-I session was lead by Sifu Smith. After some preparatory work on forming the 3 Body Posture of Hsing-I he concentrated on getting everybody up to speed on 5 Element Fighting. Once again everybody split into pairs and Sifu Smith and his students were available to help out if people got stuck. For many Tai Chi Chuan students this was their first taste of Hsing-I and it proved quite an eye-opener. Seeing (and hearing thanks to Hsing-I’s ‘Thunder sound’) Sifu Smith demonstrate the free application of the art is an awe-inspiring sight!

Training for the day was rounded off with some Buk Sing Choy Lee Fut applications practice, lead by Sifu Rand. The free flowing, circular and energetic Choy Lee Fut applications proved a great way to unwind after the concentrated practice of the more mentally demanding arts of Tai Chi Chuan and Hsing-I, though a few people could be seen rubbing their forearms in an attempt to bring back feeling and dispel bruising. A liberal dose of Dit Da Jao, administered by Sifu Rand, helped to sooth some reddened limbs.

After an evening meal the 2005 AGM was convened – minutes of which are now available for members on the Yongquan site. Level 1 teaching certificates in Tai Chi Chuan were awarded to bryan Timms and George and Henry Wolstencroft by Sifu Rand.

Sifu Smith handed out Level 1 certificates in Hsing-I to Colin Plummer and Graham Barlow and a Level 2 certificate to Jonathan Dovestone (though these instructors have held teaching positions for some time and the certificates were more in the way of confirmation of their existing achievement).

This year has seen some momentous changes for the YTCCA, with the formation of the Yongquan Martial Arts branch of the YTCCA to cover Choy Lee Fut and the martial nature of Yongquan teaching but mostly with the joining of Tai Chi Chuan and Hsing-I through the induction of our good friends from Leeds, headed by Senior Hsing-I instructor Sifu Damon Smith. To mark the occasion Sifu Smith presented Sifu Rand with an engraved glass plaque, bearing the Association hexagram (Ting).

After much talking and chatting about martial arts late into the evening everybody found their way to bed.

The Sunday morning session started off with Sifu Rand leading the group through the Tai Chi Form once again. As a window into higher levels of training Sifu Rand led the group through the form at a much faster pace, while still preserving the principles. Needless to say nobody in the room could keep up with him!

It was then time to move on to free push hands training, and following on from the previous day’s training we worked on learning how to apply the powers of Tai Chi Chuan in this new setting. We also worked on Tai Chi Wrestling with a bit of Tibetan Wrestling thrown into the mix for a bit of fun.

Training for the day concluded with a look at the applications of the Northern Shaolin Dragon Sword Form with Sifu Rand paying particular attention to the use of the sword as a weapon for personal combat rather than a battlefield weapon.

The day ended after another superb lunch courtesy of Matthew Calvert’s culinary skills and then we all made our way home with aching muscles, plenty of new material to work with and a better understanding of the arts we’d practiced over the weekend. Onecote weekends are always demanding, but nothing beats the experience of prolonged training with experts in the arts of Tai Chi Chuan, Hsing-I and Choy Lee Fut.

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