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.

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 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.
Sijo Garry Allsopp with Master Bao Guo Ma

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.