History
How The Gwoon Was Developed
It originally started as an inspirational thought, after meeting well-known martial artist and author Geoff Thompson at a one of his book signings at Waterstone’s Book Store in Grey Street Newcastle Upon Tyne in the year 2000. I never thought that the development of the club would escalate and mature to how it is today.
It is amazing how you can talk to someone you do not know, and jump in with both feet to see if you can swim. When I pursued the opening of the Martial Art Club, I was going on the inspirations given to me by Geoff Thompson, as he had already worn the T-shirt, and is now at the top of his tree, so I felt it was now my turn to start climbing.
November 2000 - Gwoon Opens its Doors
On the 15th November 2000, the Gwoon or school opened its doors to the public, to share my knowledge to the community. The development started slowly, and it was quite hard to get the club established, so we all had to work as a team. In the beginning there were only four of us who started the ball rolling, they were Anita Sainsbury, Paul Givens, Andrew Allsopp (no relation) and myself Garry Allsopp.
July 2001 - Phab Club Jarrow
Men's health day at the Phab club Jarrow, on 19th July 2001, had various events in the attempt to make men more aware of health issues, Cutting down on bad eating habits, Smoking, and drinking to excess was part of the day as well as getting more exercise, Sijo Garry Allsopp and his dragons were invited to show the health benefits of martial arts and that everyone, any age or condition could derive some benefit from practicing the slow and gentle exercise of Wing Tai Ch'uan.
The Mayor of South Tyneside was seen applying an arm lock on Sijo Garry Allsopp, which gained the Mayor some respect and frightened looks at the town hall from some of the staff, once they saw the photo that was in the local Gazette.
October 2001 - Official Opening
The official opening of the Wooden Dragon Martial Art Gwoon on 2nd October 2001, was a marvellous team effort By Sijo Garry Allsopp and all the Wooden Dragons, who spent weeks planning and preparing for the open day. The Wooden Dragon Martial Art Gwoon banner was designed and made by Sijo Garry Allsopp by hand. The students did a lot of cooking and a special cake; it was a true family atmosphere.
Among the special guests were the deputy Mayoress and the consort, and well respected Martial artist and a successful author, Geoff Thompson. Both Geoff and Sijo Garry tried A few moves and then Geoff certified Sijo Garry Allsopp by signing the official Certificates to declare Sijo Garry Allsopp as founder of Wing Tai Ch'uan Gung-Fu.
The karma was fantastic when Geoff, Sharon (Geoff's wive) and the consort cut the ribbon to officially open the Gung-Fu School. After the cake cutting, the students had photos taken and they each kept a piece of the ribbon that Geoff had cut during the opening ceremonies.
November 2001 - Wing Tai Ch'uan Display
In November 2001 some of my students and I, performed a small demonstration, at the Elmbridge Leisure Centre in Surrey, a kind of comedy/Martial Arts performance and Wing Tai Ch'uan concept rolled together during the kick boxing championships that year. This was our first major exposure of the Wing Tai Ch'uan concept in front of an audience and other martial artists, and was done in a boxing ring.
May 2002 - Display for Cancer Research
On the 25th May 2002 the Wooden Dragon Martial Art Gwoon, showed off their Martial Art skills, to the community to raise money for cancer research UK. All of the students trained very hard over the weekend and when the Big Day was getting Closer, the excitement was very high. We started with Chi Gungs then Street Self-Defence and so on, we entertained the crowd for 30 minutes and we brought the house down. This was the first charity event for the Wooden Dragons; the festival overall raised £1,276.63p, what an excellent effort the Wooden Dragon Students put in, to make a good event even greater by helping to raise money for such a good cause. Sijo Garry Allsopp was awarded a certificate in recognition of the hard work that had been achieved. Thank you to Sensei Peter Seth who is the founder of the Sunderland International Festival of Martial Arts, if it was not for this man, all of the martial artists Would not be able to do a good cause for charity for their community.
The Wooden Dragon Martial Art Gwoon is growing from strength to strength. We travelled All over the UK, to show the unique blend of Wing Tai Ch'uan Gung-Fu. We welcome other Martial Artists into our Gwoon or School, to share knowledge of the different ways you can adapt the techniques to work for your body structure.
Chinese Masters walk through the doors of the Wooden Dragon Martial Art Gwoon , so you can see that east meets west, which is what I call a Family of the Martial Arts, without politics. What a fantastic feeling to be united as one.
Master Bao Guo Ma visits Wooden Dragon Martial Art Gwoon
There is a photo of Master Ma and Sijo Garry Allsopp, immediately creating a bond of friendship. Master Ma gives Sijo Garry much respect and told Sijo that his Wing Tai Ch'uan is a very good Martial Art to learn. This was a very high honour for a Chinese master to pay respects to a westerner, as this is practically unheard of and only happens on very few occasions.
We were invited to Master Ma's humble home for lunch; there were four of my students and myself Sijo Garry. This was a good sign and the karma that surrounded us, was an excellent feeling for us all. It proves that know matter what part of the world you come from, we are looking for the similar things that life offers us; happiness / tranquillity and harmony, and the spirit that we have, unique within are ourselves.
East meets West Master Bao Guo Ma, Chen Style Taijiquan Sijo Garry Allsopp Founder of Wing Tai Ch'uan Un-Stylistic Gung-Fu. You can see they have big respect for Each other, Martial Art Brothers.
Thank you Master Ma and to Michael Ma attending at the Wooden Dragon Martial Art Gwoon. Demonstrating your unique Chen style within the Taijiquan. In the year 2002.
The Wooden Dragon Martial Art Gwoon has only been around for 3 years and 9 months. We started from nothing and made it into something, this is the true way of the Yin and Yang Structure, that it happen all by itself, but only if you put the right energies into it.
June 2002 - Gung Fu at Mortimer Secondary School
On 25th June 2002, Sijo Garry Allsopp and The Wooden Dragon Students held a Gung - Fu workshop at Mortimer secondary school South Shields. This workshop was designed to teach the principles of self-defence to understand that martial arts is meant to be non-aggressive, used for defence only and not for bullying others.
In July 2002 Sijo Garry was ask to do a talk about the health benefits of Wing Tai Ch'uan Gung-Fu, at the local library's around the northeast. These consisted of Jarrow, Boldon Lane and George Square Central Library South Shields. The main library in South Shields, contacted Sijo Garry Allsopp to see if he would be able to spare any of his time to help the Community Awareness of Health & Fitness. Since the aim of Wing Tai Ch'uan is to help others, Sijo Garry wholeheartedly agreed to give his time and expertis at no cost, except the occasional cup of tea.
