History

Yiheyuan History

Here's our archive of previous reports on events since 2007.

We have a lot of history before that, of course (including a few occasions in the park when the sun actually came out!) but the following begin at the birth of our website in April 2007.

Just so we don't avoid confusion, the most recent are listed first.

For our more recent exploits, see our news and events page.

2009

Romance was in the air this summer (2009)- and it seems to be catching

Congratulations to two of our instructors who got married this summer:

Rebekah Penman with new husband Ross

....and proud Dad Denis

Peter Hicks and Claire

....and an assortment of suspicious-looking characters who were discovered among their guests!

We wish them all every happiness.

Who's next?

And the sun came out with bells on!

Tai Chi in the Park June 2009

For the first time in years, the heavens actually failed to open over Leeds on National Tai Chi Day and no umbrellas, wellies or boats were in fact required. About thirty people gathered at Roundhay Park to meet fellow students from around the region and share some Tai Chi forms and push hands. Ben Morris also gave an impressive demonstration of the Chen Style form he has been learning from Col. It's always good for our own students from different classes to get together and feel part of something bigger and it's also great to welcome Tai Chi practitioners from other schools. If you've never been, do come along next year.

TAI CHI IN THE RAIN (2008)!

General sogginess has, of course, become part of the tradition of National Tai Chi Day and the weather nicely obliged us again this year by offering a suitable deluge over Roundhay Park at exactly half past two in the afternoon on an otherwise glorious sunny day!

Not to be put off by a mere excess of water, thirty of our intrepid stalwarts turned up, put down their brollies and embarked on a brave voyage through the Cheng Man Ching aquatic form. By the time we got on to the master form, the sun had seen off the worst of the clouds and we then went steaming (quite literally) into some qi gong and pushing hands.

One wonders if a the Tai Chi group in Bristol, who decided to have their Tai Chi in the Park event a week early this year, have access to a more accurate long-range weather forecasting service than the usual BBC five day map!

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TAI CHI IN THE RAIN (2007)

Our thanks to all those brave souls who showed up at Roundhay Park amid a traditional British summer downpour to celebrate National Tai Chi Day by doing some excellent, if somewhat soggy, Tai Chi.

We had a good laugh and managed to perform slightly slithery versions of the Cheng Man Ching form (twice), followed by the master form, the family form and the 48 step, while Colin demonstrated the umbrella form (stationary version) followed by the six healing sounds.

Our dazzling demonstration was witnessed by at least two people walking dogs, which may have raised the public profile of our martial art very slightly.

Happily, we didn't get quite so many funny looks from onlookers as in previous years and we didn't share the fate of the poor soul down south who apparently got banned from doing Bagua on a British beach because local people, with limited martial arts knowledge, reported him for practicing witchcraft!!

The moral of this tale is, if you want to practice martial arts in the open air, don't do anything in an overtly circular manner, take care not to draw Tai Chi symbols in the sand, if you want to practice the stick form, make sure it's not a broomstick you're using, and don't forget to keep all your clothes on!

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School of Chinese Internal Martial Arts