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. TaeKwonDo students can also use our LC-TKD app to check for holidays and scheduled class changes.

Special Guest: The TeapotmOnk

It was a laughter filled and insightful workshop when Paul Read, one of the country's foremost Tai Chi teachers, distinguished author, and founder of one of the world's best known on-line Tai Chi schools, came to visit. At the long ago sold out get together, those lucky enough to be there were treated to Paul opening everyone's eyes (sometimes by closing them!) to what Tai Chi is and how it can be practised and taught. What a great day.

Shodan!

Our Iaido has grown fabulously over the past year, and John Cartwright has been a big part of its popularity. So it was a great evening for everyone to see John presented with Shodan (Black Belt) at Badsey Enso, in the presence of his colleagues, family and friends. Well done John!

Another Tai Chi Instructor!

Michelle Baker's Badsey Tai Chi welcomed another Instructor when Charlie Prior, who also trains at Louise Morey's Peopleton Tai Chi, was awarded his Instructor certificate after many years of training. Here he is with some of his Badsey colleagues celebrating his appointment as our 8th currently active Tai Chi Instructor. Well done Charlie!

Killer11

Well done London Director Mr Jon Alagoa, who once again had a short film featured at the Fighting Spirit Film Festival. This year it was Killer11, and here he is with most of the crew (which also involved Chinatown student Aeddan Sussex - who unfortunately isn't in this pic). Congratulations Sir!

Back Home

Michelle Baker's LCTKD classes in Bromsgrove began with the hugely popular Tai Chi at the Artrix theatre. But when the pandemic hit hard the Artrix closed, so the hunt was on for a new venue. We were very grateful to be taken in by the lovely people at Stoke Prior Village Hall, where the classes have been since the return from the lockdowns. It has been really tight though, with the classes still very popular and the space unfortunately very small.

But now thanks to Bromsgrove Community Arts the Artrix is open once again, and with a big thank you to our friends in Stoke Prior, we have returned to the big, central Bromsgrove space at the Artrix once again.

Teaching Children Martial Arts

In her decades as a martial artist, Mrs Helen M F Hall has produced more Black Belts than any other teacher at LCTKD, and most of those Black Belts have grown up with her teaching, starting as sometimes tiny children. Her highly praised teaching of children has made Blockley juniors TKD full for years, and people who know the class often describe it as a "masterclass" in teaching children martial arts.

It was an insightful session when Mrs Hall shared thoughts about teaching children martial arts with a select group of LCTKD's TaeKwonDo teachers, in her first workshop of 2025.

Tai Chi Picnic

Well done to everyone involved in Droitwich Tai Chi's annual Tai Chi Picnic in the Park. This year it was at Lido Park, rather than the usual Vines Park venue, but that didn't seem to put anyone off.

TKD Graders

Congratulations to all the students gaining new grades across all our TKD classes recently. It is possible to go through grades in four of our eight arts, but only in TaeKwonDo is this done through grading examinations. These take place regularly for all our TKD classes, so that students who want to pass through the grades have the opportunity to do that as soon as they are ready. Click on the photo to see more from Blockley TKD on our Facebook page.

Sai at Badsey

Great fun on a Tuesday evening when Mrs Helen M F Hall came to Badsey Enso to teach Sai, then stayed to teach some in the TKD class. You can see all the photos on our Facebook page by clicking on the pic above.

Bidford on Avon

Well done to Mr Douglas Knight, Miss Natalie Allen, and Mr Theo Morgan, who attended the community showcase in Bidford on Avon to promote their nearby Saturday TKD and SAMA Kickboxing classes in Broom. The classes in Broom have been running continuously for nearly 17 years. With the move of the Chinese Community Centre in 2012, this makes Broom our longest running venue! Click on the photo for class location and times.

I'll Keep On Comin' Home

Thought you'd appreciate this wonderful song from our Technical Director Drew Neirin Hall, who is a musician in his day job, and this is from his latest album.

Special Guests

It was wonderful to have our friends Helena Kean and David Pelling from Lighthouse Tai Chi in Lancashire come down to lead a special workshop on 8 Channnel Qigong. The feedback has been incredible and we are already talking to them about coming back again. You can find out what else is coming up in our programme of events by clicking on the photo. Meanwhile, if you'd like to see more photos, check our our Facebook post, which you can link to by clicking anywhere on the small copy of the post below.

The Tao Te Ching

A fascinating evening for everyone when Neil R. Hall offered an on line workshop picking out lessons from famous Chinese classic, the Tao Te Ching (or Dao De Jing), with special guest Paul Read. Paul's own work with Cherry Jeffs on the classic is available now. It's called Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go. You can skim through it in the video below, and find out more by clicking the image above.

Wu Wei

During the workshop, Neil talked about the often cited Chinese philosophical concept of Wu Wei, which features repeatedly in the Dao De Jing. Neil created a short website explanation to make this accessible to people who aren't experts in Chinese philosophies, and you can see it by clicking on the picture above.

Junior Leaders

Congratulations to our new Junior Leaders, and a big thank you to all the course teachers!

Tea, Cake and Tai Chi Secrets

There were lots of laughs, plenty of tea and cake, and some secrets that no-one is allowed to tell, when Neil R. Hall came out of Tai Chi seclusion to teach a workshop for all levels, and not just teachers, for the first time in years. Lots of people came, and learned how to appreciate Chinese tea properly, but practically, with lots of different methods and teapots, and there was plenty of lovely cake to share (thanks everyone!), plus time to consider some surprising things about Tai Chi. Sorry we didn't get a group photo, it was so busy! Here's the table looking nicely prepared. Click on the photo to find out more about our Tai Chi.

Double Black Belt

It was a very special night when Lisa Williams was awarded Shodan (that is, Black Belt) in the Japanese sword art, Iaido. In itself that's a fabulous achievement, with almost 10 years of dedication going in to it, but this was particularly special because it came just six months after Lisa was awarded her Black Belt in our self defence and weapons art, Ensodo.

As a double Black Belt, Lisa joins a very select group of senior students, but she is in an even more select group than that. As well as Ensodo and Iaido, Lisa is a long time student of Tai Chi, Qigong and Bujutsu, has cross trained with students of TaeKwonDo and SAMA, and regularly attends our Zendo workshops. This makes her only the fourth person to have trained in all 8 LCTKD arts, and the first woman to do so. (Senior Instructor Louise Morey has trained in 7.) What is more, Lisa is a qualified Instructor who can teach Iaido, Ensodo, Bujutsu, Tai Chi and Qigong. That's very rare indeed, and she is the only person in LCTKD apart from Chief Instructor Neil R. Hall who can teach that many arts. Wow!

Among the guests at Lisa's presentation joining her training colleagues were Lisa's family and friends, her Tai Chi teacher Michelle Baker, and two LCTKD Iaido legends who supported her when she started her journey, Bill Carmen and Mike Coleman. Well wishes also came from many of her closest Iaido friends from her journey, including Louise Morey, Kate Lewin, and Barry Jones.

You can find out more about all of our arts by clicking on the photo.

7 New Teaching Assistants

Many congratulations to the students who completed the 2025 Teaching Assistant Course, and big thank you to course leader Mrs Helen M F Hall and her great team, Mrs Michelle Baker, Mr Neil R. Hall, Mr Douglas Knight, Miss Rebecca Nevin, and Miss Natalie Allen. Mr Knight doesn't feature in the photo as he was behind the camera! It as great to see all of the LCTKD arts represented.

Chinatown Cup

Well done to all the competitors at this year's fun sparring and patterns competition in Chinatown.

Tameshigiri

A recent Tameshigiri (target cutting) session at our Badsey Iaido class. There's a fun YouTube short of this, which you can see by clicking on the photo above.

World Tai Chi Day

A huge thanks to organiser Roland Merrick, to all the teachers, to everyone who came - including students old and new, students from other schools, people of all ages who came to discover Tai Chi, passers by, and our special guests Helena and David from Lighthouse Tai Chi in Burnley. We had beautiful weather this year, and the Tai Chi was great. Looking forward to next year!

Newest and Youngest Instructor

Huge congratulations to our newest and currently youngest Instructor, Miss Flora Hamilton-Jones, who completed years of work for her Instructor qualification this week. Flora is one of Mrs Helen M F Hall's Blockley TKD students, and her progress through Black Belt and Instructor was truly interesting, as she achieved much of the later years while at University in Falmouth doing first undergraduate and then Master's degree studies. To achieve this, Flora trained there will local clubs while doing a lot of work with LCTKD on line. A wonderful example to us al

Iaido in Northamptonshire

A huge congratulations to Wellingborough teacher Barry Jones on his award of Nidan (2nd Dan Black Belt) in Iaido, at the Iaido workshop in sunny Northamptonshire. Congratulations also to his wonderful students, who did him proud and were all awarded Iaido grades.

Click on the photo to find out more about Iaido in Wellingborough.

10 Years!

Many congratulations to Sara and Jenny on being with us for 10 wonderful years of Tai Chi. Interested in our Tai Chi? click on the photo to find out more about it.

Kicks and Sticks

Technical Director Mr Drew Hall came up from the south west to the Cotswolds to teach a workshop at Blockley TKD seniors class, on sticks and kicks - a crossover arts idea, featuring Escrima, TaeKwonDo, and SAMA Kickboxing. As you can see, he came early and was persuaded to do something with the little ones class as well, which turned out to be a lot of fun.

A great evening was had not only by all those involved, but also by the many watching, and we received many messages about just how inspiring it was. Looking forward to the next one.

20 Years!

Yes, it is over 20 years since LCTKD began, with its first session in the old Chinese Community Centre on Gerrard Street in London's Chinatown. Its co-founders Neil R. Hall and Gareth R. Hall were the only people there. In 20 years it has grown to have hundreds of students, and thousands have learnt with us since that first day with just the two.

Classes in the Chinese Community Centre are still going strong under Jon Alagoa, having relocated to the new centre - which Neil R. Hall helped to negotiate - just round the corner in 2012. Classes in the midlands started in 2008 and have spread across four midlands counties, with another county likely to be added soon.

Neil R. Hall is now our Chief Instructor, while Gareth, who was our Chief Instructor, moved to the USA in 2018. From the early days at the old Community Centre and the start of classes in the midlands, Helen Hall, Drew Hall, Jon Alagoa, Connie Wong, Doug Knight, Rebecca Nevin and James Aspey are all still with us. And there's a host of other students who have now reached 10 years as part of the LCTKD family, including people from our Tai Chi and Iaido side. You can see the story of LCTKD by clicking on the image of our founders in our original home.

Qi

Well done to all the teachers who took part in an online Q&A about Qi. The video gives you a bit of a flavour of the topic, and if you are well in to it have a listen to a fun 8 minute podcast we organised.

The Cheng Man-Ch'ing (Zheng Manqing) Form

The photo missed one of our leading Instructors, Michelle Baker, but she was definitely there, with this group of teachers at the workshop focusing on the famous master's interpretation of Yang Style Tai Chi.