Alan Low Visit To UK Academy  

Alan Low is the Head Coach of the Siu Lum Hark Fu Mun  Association in Hong Kong.  On Saturday 20th April 2013 Alan visited the Sil Lum Kune Martial Arts Academy in the UK.  The Academy houses the UK Branch of Sil Lum Hark Fu Mun and on Saturday morning Alan arrived to be greeted by Sifu Paul Burkinshaw, Head of  the Sil Lum Kune Association.

There are a number of different classes held at the Academy on Saturday mornings so it is always a busy time, Alan arrived to see the youngsters Kung Fu class finishing.  Following a cup of Chinese tea Sifu Paul Burkinshaw gave Alan a tour around the whole Academy site.  Starting in the upstairs traditional kwoon Alan could see all the photos of members both past and present as well as all the Association banners and Lion Dance heads hung on the walls.   Of particular interest were the array of Hark Fu weapons and the two large poles used for practising the Hark Fu single dummy form.  On the way down to the ground floor Alan could see the Association's photo Gallery including rare photos of Grandmaster Wong Cheung and historic photos of Hong Kong.  Upstairs in the main hall there is a section with copies of old certificates from Grandmaster Wong's gym. Alan and Robert went through these with Alan explaining what each one was for with some background information regarding them.

On the groundfloor boxing area Alan could see the main boxing ring as well as the different bags and training aids.  At the rear of the Academy Alan was shown the club's 9 Pin Grinder Dummy and Plum Flower Pole installations.  

In the afternoon Alan and Sifu Paul trained together concentrating on the Hark Fu Iron Rod routine. 
Sifu Paul demonstrated the version practised in the UK and Alan suggested ways to improve some small elements of the routine.  Paul spent several hours practising this routine to ensure that he had taken on the improvements suggested by Alan and then honed them to improve his performance. In the late afternoon,  photos and video were taken to document the finer points of certain techiques to ensure that no detail would be lost.  

Lee Lynam, Alan Low, Paul Burkinshaw, Gurjit Sandhu, Ian Harrison, Robert Buckler, Paul Cowley, Andy Shenton & Bev Coulson.

An evening  meal had been arranged and many of the senior students / instructors attended and were introduced to Alan.

On Sunday a seminar had been arranged at the Academy to be led by Alan Low concentrating on the Hark Fu routine "Sam Gin Kuen".
 

left to right

Gurjit Sandhu, Toby Foxon, Sean Krauth, Bev Coulson, Marius Dunkley, Brandon Hickman, Andy Shenton, Lee Lynam, Paul Burkinshaw, Callum Burkinshaw, Ian Harrison, Alan Low, Steve Foxon, Robert Buckler, Cameron Burkinshaw, Charlotte Burkinshaw, Kian Shakouri,
Paul Cowley, Aaron Tarling

****Further update to this article to follow