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.
AI Refreshed
Always up to the minute, we have now included an AI "agent" on our website, which lets you ask questions, chat about the answers, and organise to do things. Our pilot version was only available to people who had a certain sort of AI subscription, but we didn't want that to be the case, and now it's free to everyone. To use it, you just click on it and type in your questions. You can even tap the microphone icon and speak to it!
We are now looking to introduce a free version of our AI TaeKwonDo handbook!
Kodachi
Kodachi is a special sort of short sort practice, which is one of the things more advanced students do in Mugai Ryu. A big thank you to Mark Ashman from Inyoshinkai, one of the UK's highest ranked practitioners of Mugai Ryu, who came to teach us a workshop on Kodachi, which was very popular indeed. Like all Mugai Ryu, it can be done kneeling or standing. Look out for it in your Enso classes from now on.
Congratulations!
A huge congratulations to Mark Nind, who has qualified as an Instructor. Multiple Black Belt and previously a Karate teacher, Mark has studied many arts and now teaches Iaido and Mugai Ryu with LCTKD, where he is also a student of Genko Nito Ryu.
Mark has travelled to Germany to train in Mugai Ryu, and just before Easter is heading to Japan to train with the world head of Mugai Ryu Meishi Ha. What an incredible thing to do.
Our IAIMA Instructor training at LCTKD takes years to complete, with many days of formal courses and a long period of supervised teaching practice. Even though already a martial arts Instructor when he came to us, Mark willingly went through this long process, which he has now completed. A huge "well done" to him from us all.
Lunar New Year
We welcomed the Lunar New Year, celebrated in East Asia from 10th February. You can find out what that means for this year on our Lunar New Year page.
Black Belts?
We started the year with a set of three workshops in three days, for people preparing for their final grading examination to move to 1st and 2nd Dan Black Belts in TaeKwonDo. Well done to all involved. The standard was really high. A full dress rehearsal for the final examination followed, and the final examination is arriving soon. Good luck to all the candidates.
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.
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 in 2023, 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.