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Progression

When I arrived in the South along with two other companions (at this point I was separated from my wife and two sons), and after having our money stolen in Weymouth, I found myself in Poole, Dorset. I took any job I could find and after my two companions returned home I worked in the hotel trade as a porter.

The hotel trade was seasonal and full of little dictators that were full of self-importance. As a result, waiters, chambermaids and porters can be treated like dirt, with very low pay, poor living accommodations, long hours of multiple shifts and the permanent threat of becoming homeless if you lost your job hanging over your head. All this with your employer having you by the short and curlies. After a spell in hotels in Sandbanks and Bournemouth I travelled to Lyndhurst in the New Forest.

It was whilst in Lyndhurst that I started to make changes to the styles of Fu Jow Pai (Tiger Claw System) and Hut Pao Tsut (Black Leopard System) to be able to cover both systems equally. The only formwork that I had done was from Fu Jow Pai. Form in Hut Pao Tsut was the form that you became. i.e. White crane, Monkey, Snake, Dragon, Eagle, Mantis and Black Leopard. In Fu Jow Pai there is a form named Cat Amongst The Doves, which is a combination of all of the basic forms put together.

I took this idea and added the other animals from Hut Pao Tsut, also including the more aerial kicks. I did this so that I would have one form that would cover both my art and my needs to maintain a high standard of fitness, flexibility, grace, speed and power.

Whilst living at The Lyndhurst Park Hotel I asked if I would be able to use one of the empty function rooms to practice my Kung Fu and was informed that I could only use it as long as I would teach any of the staff who wanted to train. I was very reluctant to teach as I held many of Sifu Rostron’s beliefs about people’s attitudes to training and their passionless attitude to Kung Fu in general.

I have always had a great passion for my art and a great respect for any other dedicated Martial Artist regardless of style or system practiced. This also includes such dedicated practitioners of non Martial Arts and sports such as Ballet, Figure skating and Gymnastics. Therefore, I have often taken great offence of any slur towards Kung Fu and have freely demonstrated the usefulness of its vast array of techniques in order to try to re-educate the ignorant. This, in turn, has led to me being dismissed from many a job...

The morning after the very first lesson I was called into the manager's office to explain why ten of his staff were injured and four were unfit to work. All were sporting either, black eyes, badly bruised ribs, busted noses, and loosened teeth. They all walked like they had ridden a horse all night and one had a broken wrist (because he refused to tap-out. Silly man.) Surprisingly, I managed to keep my job and, even more surprising, three of the students.

The form that I developed is called Ba Yeng Kuen Hut Pao Tsut (Eight Formed Fist of the Black Leopard System). It contains some 260 movements. Many of the movements were too advanced for my students to perform and so I broke it down into smaller sections and replaced some of the more advanced movements with easier ones. The new forms are called:

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