Sifu Paul Burkinshaw 2023

Paul first started boxing in May 1983 at Newdigate Boys Club in Bedworth. This club was behind the Newdigate Colliery & District Sports & Social Club, on Smorrall Lane, in Bedworth, and Paul would train 3 times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. During his boxing career Paul had several amateur bouts, including representing Warwickshire against London before finishing in 1988.

Sifu Paul Burkinshaw (2nd From Left) With Members Of Newdigate Boxing Club
Andrew Lenard, Paul Burkinshaw, Terry Croft & Furgusson Grant

 

While boxing, Paul started Shaolin Fist Kung-Fu in June 1986. He had always been interested in Kung Fu ever since his childhood and watching the old 1970s Kung Fu television series. Paul was fascinated by the shows flashbacks to the Shaolin Temple and the Shaolin training and Shaolin Philosophy as revealed by Master Po. He studied under two teachers, Sifu John Holden and Sifu Jim Nesmith. Unfortunately Jim had to retire due to arthritis in 1989. Paul then went on to obtain his black sash with Sifu John Holden in March 1990.

 

Master John Holden, Sifu Jim Nesmith And Sifu Paul Burkinshaw

During 1987 Paul also studied Shotokan karate, but gave it up by the end of the year after obtaining the first four grades in that style. He personally found Karate rigid compared to the much more fluid movements of the Chinese Martial Arts.

 

In 1989 Dave Porter broke away from the Shaolin Fist Chinese Boxing Association and formed his own Shaolin Freestyle Chinese Boxing Assciation with his student, Asa Darilson. Paul was good friends with Asa and Dave and continued to train with them after this. He obtained his 1st Dan in February 1990, and 2nd Dan in May 1994 in this style and became heavily involved in the development of the style with both Dave and Asa over this period.

Sifu Dave Porter, Sifu Paul Burkinshaw, Barry Smith and Sifu Asa Darlison

 

Paul was part of this association until early 1997 when he left to set up his own association focusing exclusively in traditional Kung Fu. After obtaining his black sash in 1990, Paul needed a new challenge, and so started Tae Kwon Do as well. He studied this until 1992 with Mr Dave Oliver, when family commitments forced him to stop. From 1987 until 1992 Paul had been training seven times a week in either Kung-Fu, karate, boxing, or Tae Kwon Do. He resumed Tae Kwon Do in late 1995, and obtained his 1st Dan in April 1997 from Master Frank Murphy. Once achieving this grade, Paul finished Tae Kwon Do, so as to concentrate on Kung-Fu again.

 

 

Sifu Paul Burkinshaw representing Newdigate at the Newdigate Working Mens Club in Bedworth

 

In 1990 Paul resumed Boxing returning to Newdigate Boys Boxing club. After two years of intense training and several boxing matches later Paul once again retired from boxing to focus on Kung Fu.

During the period between 1986 to 1993, Paul entered many competitions for either sparring, open hand forms or weapons and won many first, second and third place prizes in local and regional competitions.

In 1994, Paul retired from competitions so that he could concentrate on teaching, and opened his first club in Coventry. This was at Masser Road Community Centre in Holbrooks on a Thursday evening, and shortly after he took over the class at the AT7 Leisure Centre in the Court House Green area of Coventry from Dave Porter on Monday evening. Paul believed there was still much to learn from Kung-Fu, and became interested in traditional styles, travelling around the country researching different styles of Shaolin Kung-Fu. In 1997, while researching into traditional Kung-Fu, Paul was invited to study Northern Praying Mantis on an advanced instructor's course. Paul's teacher in Praying Mantis was Sifu Derek Frearson, who is the chief instructor of this style in Britain. Paul would often train with Derek on a one to one basis at his home on a Friday evening as well as attending classes at the YMCA building in Leicester town centre. Paul was given permission to teach Seven Star Praying Mantis in 1998 and continued this style until late 1999.

During this period Paul also met and trained with Iain Armstrong of the Nam Yang Pugilistic Association. Iain has kindly helped Paul with the finer points of the art over the years, and his group has been instrumental in the training and development of Lion Dance within Sil Lum Kune. Also in 1997 Paul continued his study of Kung-Fu with his former Sifu, Master John Holden.

In February 1997 Paul left Shaolin Freestyle and formed ' Sil Lum Kune '. This system incorporated part of the Shaolin Fist system, plus other aspects of traditional Shaolin Kung-Fu that Paul had studied after many years in the art. Shortly after Master John Holden’s group merged with Paul’s Sil Lum Kune. Paul still used the Shaolin Fist Chinese Boxing Association (S.F.C.B.A.) name for his multi style association as a sign of respect. Paul also took over John Holden's class at the Exhall East Community Centre on a Tuesday night due to John working shifts and so not being able to get there to teach. Paul soon opened a second class at this venue on Thursday evenings due to the increased interest and demand in the Bedworth area. This coincided with the closure of Masser Road Community Centre in Holbrooks being shut down for redevelopement into a housing estate. Paul Maintained a class in Holbrooks on a Wednesday evening and moved venues to the nearby President Kennedy Secondary School on Rookery Lane. On Saturday mornings, he would also conduct private one to one training sessions in the large conservartory at his house.

Sifu Paul Burkinshaw Performing Thumb Press Up

In 1999 Paul once again entered into major competitions achieving the following results :-

1. 3rd place W.K.A British Championships for Chinese forms.
2. 1st place South East England Kung Fu Championships for Qingda sparring (under 85kg)
3. 2nd place W.U.M.A English Open Championships for continuous sparring (under 80kg)
4. 1st place U.K National Kung Fu Championships for Qingda sparring (under 85kg)
5. 1st place W.U.M.A Open National Championships for continuous sparring (under 80kg)
6. 1st place W.U.M.A Open National Championships for Chinese forms.

During 1999 Paul qualified as a referee and judge with the B.C.C.M.A. officiating at both the U.K National Championships, and the Junior British Championships.  Also in 1999 Paul continued his quest for Kung-Fu when he began to study Wing-Chun as a private (closed door) student of Sifu Duncan Osborne. During this same year Paul also achieved his 3rd Degree Black Sash after a gruelling five hour grading from Master John Holden. He had often been training privately on Friday afternoons in John's back garden (both working in Engineering and so finished work at mid-day on Fridays). Paul had turned up at John's house as usually and when walking into the garden noticed a table and video camera set up. Paul had asked what these were for and John had replied that he was going to do his grading. Paul then enquired why the video camero and john told him that so he could watch his forms / routines again later in slow motion to see if there were any mistakes.

Paul started off 2000 with continued success in competitions with the following results :-

1. 1st place W.U.M.A English Open Championships for Chinese forms.
2. 2nd place W.U.M.A English Open Championships for continuous sparring (under 80kg)
3. 3rd place W.U.M.A U.K. Open Championships for Chinese forms.
4. 1st place W.U.M.A U.K. Open championships for continuous sparring (under 80kg)

    

Sifu Paul Burkinshaw Taking First Place At WUMA United Kingdom Open Championships February 2000

Then on 2nd March 2000 Paul was involved in a near fatal car accident when his car was hit by an articulated lorry. This accident kept him in hospital for two months, and then a further three months of physio were needed to enable Paul to regain his full mobility. Paul also used form practice and chi kung exercises to aid his recovery. Doctors informed Paul that the injuries he sustained in the accident should have killed him, and that his survival was down to his excellent health and fitness, as well as swift and expert medical treatment. Paul has since made a full recovery competing in major competitions, receiving an award from the W.U.M.A organisation for his dedication.

Paul rounded off 2000 by achieving a 2nd Place in the W.U.M.A World Championships in Sicily for Chinese forms in November, and then in December Paul also competed in the W.U.M.A British Championships achieving :-

1) 1st Place in the Adult Chinese Forms
2) 1st Place in –80kgs points sparring
3) 1st Place in the Men’s Team event (with Aaron Marsh, and Martin Scott. Many thanks toAaron, and Martin who encouraged and trained with Paul enabling him to achieve these results after his accident.)

 

Also in late 2000, Paul was finally able to open up a new club at the Bulkington Club for Young Boys, Barnacle Lane in Bulkington. Paul had been waiting two years for a slot to become available at this venue and this class was on a Friday evening.

In March 2001 Master John Holden and Paul went to Hong Kong. Paul trained at the Chin Woo branch in Nathan Road studying Lohan style. At the end of Paul’s training he was awarded his 4th Degree Black Sash by Master John Holden in Hong Kong.

(See News Articles 2001 - Hong Kong Trip)

Paul has continued to develop within the B.C.C.M.A gaining more experience at events and courses. In recognition of this, Paul was voted onto the Executive committee of the B.C.C.M.A in June 2001 by the Head’s of associations.

 

Sifu Paul Burkinshaw Accepting An Award For His Achievements In Martial Arts

In October 2001 Paul was invited to the Combat Hall of Fame awards held in Birmingham, which he attended with Sifu John Holden, and several close students / friends. At this ceremony, Paul was awarded a place in the Hall of Fame for his achievements within martial arts.

 

In April 2002 Paul and several students travelled to Beijing, China. Paul and the group studied Wu Shu for three weeks at the Capital College of Physical Education. While in Beijing they visited the usual tourist attractions around the capital and also went to the Shaolin Temple in Honan province.

 

In June 2002 Paul was asked to represent England in an international competition by the B.C.C.M.A. Paul achieved a Bronze medal in the Traditional Southern Open Hand Forms category and took the Gold medal in the –85kgs Qingda sparring category. Paul was able to continue this success in September at the B.C.C.M.A U.K National Championships where he won a Bronze medal in the Traditional Long Weapons, a Silver medal in the Traditional Southern Open Hand Forms and a Gold medal in the –85kgs Qingda sparring category.

(See News Articles 2002 - BCCMA International)

In August 2002, Paul decided to quit his job in Engineering and making teaching martial arts his full-time employment. To help achieve this Paul opened more classes so that he was teaching seven days a week and also added  new Little Ninja classes for younger kids 4 to 8 years old into his schedule. Initially this was two days per week, but after a month this increased to four days per week.  In December 2002 Paul was able to open a Martial Arts Academy in Bedworth. This has been a benefit to the association, having a full time office, a place to conduct one to one training, and a more traditional environment to tutor the higher grades in the more specialised asspects of Chinese martial arts.

 

Sifu Paul Burkinshaw 2003, outside first academy (53 Mill Street, Bedworth)

 

In 2003 Paul has focused on developing and expanding Sil Lum Kune: Shaolin Fist Chinese Boxing Association with several of his assistant instructors opening up many new classes, and developing our weapons and Chinese Wrestling syllabus. At the 2003 B.C.C.M.A U.K National championships Paul once again won a gold medal for Qingda sparring. Later that year Paul was again awarded a place in the Combat Hall of Fame for his Commitment and Development of Martial Arts.

 

During the period 2002 to 2004 Paul had also been training with his Sifu, Master John Holden behind closed doors, which resulted in Paul being awarded his 5th Degree Black Sash from Master John Holden in March 2004. Later during 2004 Paul retained his title at the B.C.C.M.A U.K National Championships for Qingda Sparring.

The Sil Lum Kune system has continued to evolve and develop, Sifu Paul Burkinshaw and Sarinder Singh have compiled their experience and knowledge of the traditional wrestling to form it's own syllabus. With the aid of David Richardson and Jamie Prendeville, Chinese Wrestling now has its own classes allowing the expansion of the groundwork and grappling elements of the system.

 

(See News Articles 2005 - China Trip)

The Association was given a further boost in 2005 when the Martial Arts Academy was expanded and refurdished giving it a more traditional look.



At the B.C.C.M.A U.K National Championships Paul once again won his category for Qingda sparring again making him UK National champion.

Paul Burkinshaw became Head Coach of the Sil Lum Kune Association in 1997.  Paul had only ever been told vague details of the styles origins, which was of a traditional Tiger style taught by a Master Wong in Hong Kong.In 2006, due to new rules introduced by the UK's Chinese Martial Arts governing body, the BCCMA.  All traditional UK associations had to provide details of their historic lineages. Paul visited several retired instructors to find out if they had any additional information. One of these was Ken Hyland who had started training in 1962 with Master Tom Carey. Tom had talked to Ken about Master Bob Johnson who he had studied the Kung Fu under. Bob had told Tom about his training in Hong Kong and Tom had passed some of this information onto Ken.

After lengthy research, Paul was led to the name of a Master Wong Cheung. Previous instructors of Sil Lum Kune had broken all links with Hong Kong and had chosen to operate independently in the UK. Paul re-established links with the original Hark Fu Mun (Black Tiger) association in Hong Kong and the U.S.A. Following further research and discussions with Hark Fu Mun instructors around the world, Paul and his instructors focused on rebuilding and expanding the Black Tiger aspects of the style under his Si Hing (Elder) Eric Tsai of Hong Kong and Jerry Davis of the U.S.A. This process consisted of continual instruction, travelling to Hong Kong to studying under Si Hing Eric Tsai.

(See News Articles 2006 - Our Roots / Meeting Our Family / Path To Black Tiger)

In April of 2006, Paul organised a Shaolin Temple tour of China for the club. This trip included the temples at Putian, Quanzhou, Emei, Wudang, Hua Shan and Shaolin at Henan. At several of these temples Paul and his group were met by the abbots and their representatives including exchanges of pennants and demonstrations of martial styles.
(See News Atricles 2006 - Shaolin Temple Tour)

In August 2006 Paul competed in the 9^th Chin Woo World championships with a squad from his club. Paul achieved Bronze medals in Traditional Southern Open-hand forms and Twin Weapons and a Gold medal for Qingda sparring making him World Champion. Paul decided that this was a fitting end to his competitive career and so retired from competition after 8 years of continued success.

 

(See News Articles 2006 - Chin Woo World Championships)

In December 2006 Paul and his instructors re-organised the Kung Fu syllabus incorporating the Black Tiger forms and techniques. The club was also renamed back to its original title of Siu Lum Hak Fu Mun (Shaolin Black Tiger).

In 2007 Paul has focused his energies on building a larger new academy on the land at the rear of the existing academy. Due to the requirements of the local planning authority, the design of this building had to be drastically changed costing alot more money. This expense was then further inflated with all the new building regulations that have been passed over the last year or so.

(see news articles 2007 - New Training Hall)


In November 2007, Paul travelled to El Paso, Texas, USA with Robert Buckler to meet and train with elder Hak Fu Mun brothers (Jerry Davis & his Sifu Eric Wu).
 
          Paul & Eric Wu                                        Robert Buckler, Jerry Davis & Paul
(See News Articles 2007 - Training In El Paso)

In December 2009 Paul was awarded his instructor grade in White Tiger by Si-Gung Jim Bedford-Stradling & Si-Bok Pete.

In September 2011, Paul came out of retirement to compete in the BCCMA British Qingda championships. Paul wanted to see if after the many years of coaching his students to great success, if he still was able to practice what he preached. Due to a lack of entries in the middle-weight category, Paul was forced to enter the heavy-weight category which he won to become the 2011 BCCMA British Qingda Champion in the veterans heavy-weight section.

(See News Articles 2011 - Sil Lum Kune at British Championships)

In December 2011 Paul was awarded a trophy from his students for 25 years service and dedication to martial arts.  (See News Articles 2011 - 25th Anniversary)

In January 2012, Jim and Pete stated that they had completed their instruction with Paul and that due to other commitments they were unable to continue travelling to Bedworth. Paul felt that he still needed to work on improving his skills and abilities and so contacted Gordon Hooke. At various meetings and seminars that Paul had had with Gordon in 2011, he had told Paul that he was always welcome to come and train at his club in Wigston, Leicester. Therefore from January 2012, Paul accepted Gordon’s kind offer and started to train with him on a regular weekly basis continuing his education in White Tiger under Gordon's tutelage with Master Pete Thorn also offering guidance. 

From 2011 to 2012, Paul has also spent much of his time researching Grandmaster Bob Johnson. All this research has resulted in Paul writing a detailed biography Of Bob Johnson which he has been able to print in the format of a book. Paul released this book title, Way of the White Tiger, The Bob Johnson Story in September 2012.

(See News Articles 2012 - Way of the White Tiger)

During this research Paul also compiled information on Tom Carey and the developement of the clubs in the Coventry, Nuneaton and Bedworth area which will be the focus on his second book, called "Hard as Nails, the Tom Carey Story".

Since Eric Tsai had moved to Sydney, Australia, he and Paul had continued to work together to promote and build up Hak Fu Mun in their respective countries. In mid 2012, Eric decided to stop teaching publicly taking a back seat regarding Hak Fu Mun. In December 2012, Eric awarded Paul the grade of 8^th Degree for his dedication and promotion of Hak Fu Mun within the U.K.

In 2012, the Siu Lum Hak Fu Mun Wong Cheung Martial Arts Association construted an English website that was found by Robert Buckler (a senior long-term student of Pauls) who on Paul's behalf contacted the Hong Kong branch and establishing links in December 2012. In January 2013, Paul was able to establish new links with the Siu Lum Hak Fu Mun Wong Cheung Martial Arts Association in Hong Kong with the aid of his student, Robert Buckler. After much communication via email, Paul and Robert were invited to attend Si Jo Wong Cheung’s commemorative dinner in Hong Kong, organised by this association in March 2013. While there they were there they were shown several sites connected to the history of the club and trained most days continuing their education in Hak Fu Mun.

(See News Articles 2013 - Wong Cheung Annual Dinner)

 In the following month of April, Alan Low (Head Coach of the Hong Kong Branch) managed to spend four days at Paul's academy while on a buisness trip to the UK. Much of this time was spent sharing there experiences of Hak Fu Mun forms, weapons and Lion Dance. One of these days, Alan conducted a seminar for the higher grades and instructors at the acedemy.

(See News Articles 2013 - Alan Low's Visit to UK / Hark Fu Mun Lion Dance)

In March 2014, Paul travelled to Hong Kong once again to attend the annual dinner for Si Jo Wong Cheung with students Beverly Johnson, Paul Hickman and Brandon Hickman. At the dinner, Paul performed a routine with members of the Hong Kong branches students as a demonstration of the Hak Fu Mun martial arts before sitting down to eat.

(See News Articles 2014 - Wong Cheung Annual Dinner / Hong Kong Visit)

Paul returned to Hong Kong in October 2014 to continue his education in Hak Fu Mun under Alan Low and Franco Lok. While there, Paul was invited to become a deisciple under Alan Low and become his student. He accepted this honour and Paul performed the Bai Si ceremony under Alan Low (Low Shiu Lun) at a dinner with the Siu Lum Hak Fu Mun Wong Cheung Martial Arts Association present as whitnesses to this event.


Paul presenting red envelope to his Sifu, Alan Low

 

Si Tai Gung Franco Lok, Sifu Paul Burkinshaw, Si Gung Alan Low & Yeung Wong Hing (President) 

Also during this time, Paul accampanied Franco and Alan across the border into China to Guangzhou (Canton) looking at five of the temples in this city. This was part of his research for his book, The Fall of the Southern Shaolin Temple and Rise of the Ten Tigers of Canton. 

In April 2015, Paul returned with a group of his students which included his children. (Charlotte Burkinshaw, Cameron Burkinshaw, Callum Burkinshaw, & students Paul Cowley, Sean Krauth, Marius Dunkley, Andrew Docker & Daniel Nghiem.) Everyday would start with training at the North Point Vehicular Ferry Playground, just off Java Road at 9amm until lunch time. After lunch the group would spend the remainder of the day sightseeing and or shopping visiting the amazing places around Hong Kong. One of these was to the site of Si Jo Wong Cheung's old gym on the eighth floor in Bute Street, Mong Kok. At the annual dinner, Sifu Paul Burkinshaw and Paul Cowley demonstrated several White Tiger self-defence moves, Cameron Burkinshaw performed the Butterfly Knives routine, Marius Dunkley and Callum Burkinshaw demonstrated various conditioning drills put together as a routine, Andy Docker and Callum Burkinshaw performed a series of pad drills, Paul Cowley also performed Kam Kong, and Sean Krauth and Dan Nghiem performed a series of grappling submissions.














During this period, Paul had already spent a few years researching and writing a detailed history about the Fall of the Southern Shaolin Temples, and Rise of the Ten Tigers of Canton. At this time Paul was researching the sites of three of the Southern Shaolin Temples at Quanzhou, Fuqing and Putian in the Fukien Provence of Southern China. Paul had been talking to his Sifu, Alan Low about these sites and Alan organised a trip to visit these temples when Paul next came to Hong Kong in November 2015. Paul was accompanied on this trip to Hong Kong with one of his high ranking students, Andy Shenton. Once Paul and Andy had obtained their visas they accampanied seven members of the Hong Kong branch including Alan Low, Franco Lok, Li Wai, Ho Wai Man, Maggie and Fen on the train across the border into China and up to Fukien Provence. They sent a few days visiting each of the three temples and Paul collected as many much information as possible at these sites taking numerous photos to aid the research and development of his book.


Fuqing Southern Shaolin Temple

Puitain Southern Shaolin Temple
(with Shaolin Monk Yin Yan / 延因)

Quanzhou Southern Shaolin Temple

Paul and Andy trained as usual at the North Point Park studied various routines including the Walking stick, Umbrella, and several of the open hand Hak Fu Mun routines. Much time was spent also talking about the syllabus of the UK Branch compared to the Hong Kong Branch. These included the differances and the similarities, the names of various techniques, and the structure. From this, Paul revised the UK syllabus so that it came more into line with the Hong Kong branch.

In February 2016, Paul got all his current instructors together for a group photo at the academy. After the photo session, many stopped and had a catch up for a few hours while drinking Chinese tea.

 

 

In April 2016, Paul was accompanied to the annual dinner in Hong Kong by Marius Dunkley, his wife Kim and Dan Ryman.

President, Yeung Wong Hing & Sifu Paul Burkinshaw

  
Sifu Paul Burkinshaw practicing the Tiger Hooks

Si Gung Alan Low, Kim Dunkley, Sifu Paul Burkinshaw, Marius Dunkley, Si Tai Gung Franco Lok & Dan Ryman

  
Marius practicing the Straight Sword with Si Tai Gung Franco Lok

Marius Dunklet performing the Straight Sword during the Annual Dinner 2016

Callum, Paul's son had wanted to try the MMA style of cage fighting so he arranged a fight for him at Birmingham in November 2016. Paul and many members of the club travelled across to Birmingham to support Callum in his new venture. Callum had been training with his father since he was 3 years old. In recent years Callum had also trained with some of Paul's students, Aaron Marsh in the Kickboxing and Lee Walford in the MMA style. Callum prepared relentlessly for this fight and won by knockout near the end of the first round.

Aaron Marsh, Callum Burkinshaw & Sifu Paul Burkinshaw

 

Callum Burkinshaw accompanied his father again in April 2017 to the Hak Fu Mun Annual Dinner, in Hong Kong. During this trip, Callum also trained at the Espada BJJ gym in Hong Kong, While Paul trained at the North Point Park with his Sifu Alan Low and Si Gung Franco Lok.

Siu Lum Hak Fu Mun Wong Cheung Martial Arts Association Annual Dinner 2017

  
Sifu Paul Burkinshaw practicing the Chopstick & Bowl            Franco Lok talking with Callum Burkinshaw              

In July 2017, Paul arranged for his friend Wayne Turner to come over from Birmingham to conduct a Kickboxing seminar for his students. Wayne Turner had trained in Lau Gar since the 1980s and had been a member of the famous Aston Lau Gar squad, winning several World titles over the years.



Toby Foxon, Andy Docker, Paul Burkinshaw, Wayne Turner, Paul Mueller, Simi Takhar & Callum Burkinshaw

 

In September 2017, Paul was again in Hong Kong and during this trip, he accompanied the Siu Lum Hak Fu Fu Mun Wong Cheung Martial Arts Association to Panyu China. This trip was to visit the home and family of Si Jo Wong Cheung and also to sweep his grave. (also known as Tomb-sweeping / 掃墓節) 
 
Paul Burkinshaw    /    Franco Lok paying their respects to Si Jo Wong Cheungs grave.

Outside Si Jo Wong Cheung's family home.

 Over the years, Paul continued to train in Hong Kong until Covid in 2020. During 2018-19 Paul had several more students achieve their Black sashes in Hak Fu Mun. In October 2019, he organised a club photo of all the currents Black sashes and above. Obiviously, with various commitments, it was imposible for them to all be together in a certain class. After the photo shoot, many of the seniors stayed with Paul talking and catching up while drinking lots of Chinese tea.

 

 

During 2019, Paul organised several courses for his instructors so that they achieved qualifications in 1st Aid and Coaching and were also DBS checked. After this Paul started to build a team of instructors to help him cover the classes more thoroughly ensuring that all the students gained more tuition.

 

Unfortunately, in March 2020, Paul's trip to Hong Kong had to be cancelled at the last minute due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The academy then had to close due to government rules, but in the summer, Paul was able to run classes in Bedworth Park. In September, Paul was allowed to open the academy again untill Christmas, when the goverment enforced a second lockdown untill April 2021. Much of the remainder 2021 was dedicated to promoting the club and trying to build up all the classes which had been devastated due to the pandemic.

Much of 2022 was the same trying to build up classes in an effort to get things back to normal. Paul had planned to return to Hong Kong, but had been advised by his Sifu Alan Low, that due to the troubles there with new government rules that it would be better to leave it untill 2023. During 2022, Paul and his instructors trained up several students for competition who entered several local competitions with fantastic results.  In September 2022, Paul entered 6 of his students into a full-contact kickboxing competition organised by a local club at Newdigate Sports and Social club. All 6 of these students won their fights convincingly.

 
Dawid Lach fighting

Arshaan Singh Kalcutt, Millan Dosjh, Paul, Finaly Nowell, Andy Docker, Alfie Dade & Callum Burkinshaw

In October 2022, five entered a kickboxing competition in Coventry, at the the Life Centre in Stoke Aldermore. We had four wins, with Rominder Singh Kalcutt giving two great performances dominating both of his fights.

 
Rominder Singh Kalcutt dominated both of his opponents at Coventry Kickboxing competition, June 2022

During 2023, Paul completed his instructor program to help cover all the classes. This team are all fully trained in coaching, 1st Aid and all the relavent DBS checks. In September, Paul finally returned to Hong Kong to continue his education in Hak Fu Mun. During this trip, he wasn't interested in learmimh any new routines but focussed entirely on improving all the routines he had already learnt.

Dim Sum breakfast before training in the park

The ICC skyscrapper, kowloon side

On the 100th floor overlooking Hong Kong

Sunday lunch after Hak Fu Mun class training

Having a coaching team in place proved very useful as Paul developed a problem with his left leg that stopped him from sparring and doing certain kicks. After nearly a year of seeing the doctor, x-rays and other checks, Paul finally saw a specialist in February 2024, who told him that the reason for his leg problems was due to his hip and that he needed a replacement. A few weeks later in March, Paul was in Hong Kong for the Annual Dinner. For the martial arts demonstration before the dinner, he decided to perform the Hak Fu Mun Umbrella routine. Due to his Alan's work commitments Paul trained under his Si Gung, Franco Lok. Si Gung Franco Lok offered Paul various suggestions in the days he practiced leading upto the dinner to improve his overall performance. Paul accepted these ideas making the various changes to improve his technique.

 
Performing the Umbrella for the Annual Dinner, March 2014

Present my donation (red envelope) to the Siu Lum Hak Fu Mun Wong Cheung Martial Arts Association

 

  
Trying different bakeries around Hong Kong to find the best egg tart

Locations from the Bruce Lee movie, "Enter the Dragon"

 

 
Using a small ferry to cross Victoria Harbour                     Travelling by tram from North Point       

On the last night in Hong Kong, Paul received a phone call from the hospital in Warwick, England saying they could do his hip replacement operation two weeks later on the 5th April. Luckily Paul's coaching team covered for him while he was in hospital and for a few weeks after making his recovery. Paul spent much of the next few weeks in contact with his Si Gung, Franco Lok writing down and recording detailed histories and lineage information of Hak Fu Mun.