Sifu Gary Lam seminar in the UK Sept 9 & 10th/ 06.

[Nick Forrer]

Excellent seminar

Massive thanks to Sifu Lam and Ernie for coming and teaching - Sifu Lam as always is a library of wing chun knowledge (as well as Chin Na and Thai Boxing) and Ernie is....well......lets just say the guy is a dynamo of wing chun energy and never stopped sharing his knowledge with us the whole weekend. To me this was a model of what wing chun is and should be about. No BS no politics, just a punch of wing chun nuts sharing energies, training methods, strategies techniques, concepts, views etc.

But a special thank you must go to Choi (chi sau king on this forum) for his hospitality and for putting on a great venue

Malvern is beautiful, the weather was perfect, Choi's pub is great with bruce lee statues in the mens, Baat cham do on the walls and a dummy in the main area. The chinese food is also great and we were treated to a great banquet on the last night

Good also to see WSL UK represented - with students from Sifu Clive Potter and Sifu David Peterson. Sifu Potter himself was there on sunday day and Sifu Peterson arrived after the seminar on Sunday evening

Great to meet Dan and the other Sifu Derek Frearson students too

A real shame though that there weren't more people there....you really missed out if you didnt come to this seminar

Day 1 was an overview of the three wing chun hand forms

Day 2 was Sifu Lams Level one crossing hands syllabus

I will write a more in depth report when I have the time

[Kevin Bell]

Nick,

Nice just about said it all - just to add:

Special thanks to Ernie - unbelieveable eh mate after all that time,, cant put it in to words my brother.. Apologies that the me, you, DMP "moment" on sunday evening was cut short so soon.

Thanks also to Gary of course, couldnt help but think Gary reminded me of a grizzly bear when rolling with him, smiling as i "fly away"

Lastly thanks to:

Adam "the legend" Cope - gent of gents.
Mario - king of snoring.
Nick - Bathroom floor.
Chris - 5 course breakfast.
Jon - "i love violence, bout sums Kev up".
Alan - whiter legs than Casper.
Aidan - genius booking a family holiday at seminar location.
Choi - Beef Chow Mein and awesome Pub.
The chick on Reception at our hotel Sunday morning - nice!
And everyone else i've failed or forgotton to mention

[stricker]

what can i say that dan, nick and kev aint already ? well ...


a laaaat of people think there was something better to do that weekend but they were actually WRONG!

the whole weekend was something to behold. saturday night was really special though, seeing the exchange of information between the various families late into the night that was a highlight. the same happened again late sunday night...i felt honored to be a fly on the wall, privy to something really great going down.

Sifu Gary Lam? one word : AWESOME. i dont think anyone who did any hands on with gary came away with any other impression. everyone was wincing at his demos on adam and ernie. they fly away

ernie : i truly cant put into words how happy it made me to see you again bro.

choi (chisauking) : a fantasic job of sorting the seminar out. excellent venue, really good food, and one hell of a crazy dude a really good guy just down for training with anyone and everyone.

kev : thanks so much for taking time out and going through stuff with me, its much appreciated... not only the scariest dude to stand in front of but sooo much more.

gert was awesome to meet, such a nice guy and so enthusiastic about wing chun, personal thanks go to him too.

nick, great meeting you, nothing beats being the only two fools rolling on the concrete paving slabs at a wing chun seminar

met lots of other cool people too, adam who i'm gonna put some time in with, chris and the other soton guys, mario, the huntingdon lot, dan, dan, and the other guys from leicester, the north london wing chun lot (sorry forgot your names)

basically everything nick said is correct

theres quite a few wing chun people from the uk on this forum it saddens me that more didnt come. people love to talk on forums but really nowhere is more than a few hours from anywhere...

one last thing the effort that sifu gary and ernie went to to make this trip cannot be underestimated, flying all those hours with the current terrorist threats, heading back to the US on 9-11, the insane jet lag, driving across england, the hours in airports queueing, all for little financial reward. im truly thankful that they made the decision to when they easily could have just said naaah and stayed at home in sunny california. i hope they got out of it as much as we all did. thanks.

[Kevin Bell]

Yeah Jon i agree. I was really impressed with Ernie and the way he made sure he spent time with everybody, helped coach along those who needed it (that includes me - got to get that wrong bong working:-) and inspired with words of encouragement rather turning it into an exhibition of how good he with the less inexperienced participants (yep that probably includes me as well hahah).. it'd be great to see more of Gary and Ernie in the UK and wholeheartedly recommend that people come and work out with these two talented individuals..

[[[kev : thanks so much for taking time out and going through stuff with me, its much appreciated... not only the scariest dude to stand in front of but sooo much more.]]]]

Jon thanks for the comment but dont be so ridiculous i'm just a placid gentle soul with a receding hairline Like i said room at the inn this weekend if your available and get hooked up with Adam asap.

[Matrix]

I was really impressed with Ernie and the way he made sure he spent time with everybody, helped coach along those who needed it (that includes me - got to get that wrong bong working:-) and inspired with words of encouragement rather turning it into an exhibition of how good he with the less inexperienced participants (yep that probably includes me as well hahah).. it'd be great to see more of Gary and Ernie in the UK and wholeheartedly recommend that people come and work out with these two talented individuals..

So the "secret" is out! Ernie, who seems to come across somewhat differently on this forum from time-to-time, is one of the kindest, most giving guys you will ever meet. I find the term is often over used these days, but he has a real passion for Wing Chun and teaching others. The best part, both Ernie and Gary are only interested in good Wing Chun and are not put off track by politics.

By the way, can you guys put some names to the faces in the pics?

Like, who's that punching Ernie in the head in pic #12
Who's trying to pick Gary's pocket in Pic #13?
And who's posing with Gary in #18?

That would be cool to know.

Cheers,

[stricker]

kev and matrix,

yup spot on about ernie his coaching ability might even be better than his wing chun hahaha

hahhaha kev you know when ernie first told me about you he said you were a beautiful soul or some **** like that little did he know months later he'd be regretting it [see pic, let the caption competition begin]

[PaulH]

Bill,

I believe that was Nick punching Ernie. I'm still in the dark like you on who's who at this seminar. Is Choi the asian with the guarding Wu for instance?

Regarding Ernie, he likes to communicate in ghetto and rough style, but the man has a heart of gold to WC fans.

[CFT]

By the way, can you guys put some names to the faces in the pics?

And who's posing with Gary in #18?

That would be cool to know.

Gaah!!! I knew I would be missing out. Family commitments ... I hope Gary and Ernie keep up the magical world tour! I'd love to attend a seminar someday.

Pics #2 & #18 - That's my sihing Dan who has done an excellent job with the seminar website. I certainly look forward to seeing more pictures along with the ones already up.

Ah - just seen pic #3. All the lads from Leicester with Gary. From the left: Tony, Jamie, Gary, Dan, Dan.

[Kevin Bell]

Jon,

Joking aside bro what your looking at there is a moment of time i've been waiting years for, Sifu DMP, Ernie and myself,,, hard to understand for anyone else.. I'm sure those two men know what i'm talking about.

Caption? Hhhmmm? yes i shave the sides of my head to accentuate what little i have left on top?

[stricker]

hey paul,

nope that aint choi, i dont think he appears in any of those photos, he was quite busy rushing about running his pub and restaurant at the same time as doing the seminar.

[stricker]

another one courtesy of kev :

[stricker]

kev,

from hearing you and ernie talk about each other and david peterson in the past
i guessed it was a momentous occasion.

in fact after having met both you and ernie seperately i couldnt believe you hadnt already and new it would be quite something

as for the pic, the story behind that is i didnt bring a camera with me as i knew there were restrictions etc, but just as you and ernie were engaging in some serious man love i remembered i had a camera on my phone but i was too slow and only caught ernie backing off from your advances.

"hey man it was just a hug im not into any of that funny business"

oh well you gotta work the percentages bro

[Kevin Bell]

another one courtesy of kev :

Names to faces for PaulH
L to R
Adam, Gary, David, Ernie and myself

[Kevin Bell]

kev,

from hearing you and ernie talk about each other and david peterson in the past
i guessed it was a momentous occasion.

in fact after having met both you and ernie seperately i couldnt believe you hadnt already and new it would be quite something

as for the pic, the story behind that is i didnt bring a camera with me as i knew there were restrictions etc, but just as you and ernie were engaging in some serious man love i remembered i had a camera on my phone but i was too slow and only caught ernie backing off from your advances.

"hey man it was just a hug im not into any of that funny business"

LOL good caption...

[PaulH]

Thanks, Jon! The important thing is everybody there have a good time. I know Sifu loves meeting different people and shares what he does. Your positive vibes and feedbacks mean on the other hand a lot to Ernie and Gary. As for financial gain, Sifu is pretty shrew. He generally makes sure that his family is not worse off by going international, so I am sure he is well reimbursed already for his time and efforts.