The beach at Porth Neigwl, Hells Mouth, is so wonderful,  nearly 4.5miles of sand and shingle where the sea can be as placid as a lake but it can also live up to it’s name!  At low tide there is plenty of room to practice a Tai Chi form or two.

Unfortunately due to the amount in the sea, this beach gets huge loads of plastic and other rubbish brought in on the tides and left by the tourists.  It is such a shame and because plastic doesn’t break down like glass or pot it will remain on the sea and in our sands for a very long time.  The plastic is easy to spot when it is still in bottle form or lightly broken down but there is a lot more that is unseen within the sand itself and in even smaller pieces; “Recently scientists discovered microscopic pieces of plastic can be found everywhere in the ocean, even inside plankton…” (Hands on Oceanography)

The photo above shows one of the smaller tidal dumps of plastic and other waste.

However, humans do occasionally leave less invasive and distinctly more aesthetically pleasing things behind…

Well unless we are being invaded by Maka Pakas……..

Thanks to (although not the best term to use) Donny spraining his arm, so badly the whole thing has swollen up and so no more surfing for him, we are home early and I have managed to sneak in my last archery lesson.  So…

Woolaston – Classes normal time including 14th September.  Sorry to mess you around.

All other clubs are business as usual. See you all Monday or Tuesday!

Classes start on the week beginning 6th September.

I am asking Woolaston students for one last late session, as I had to miss one of my archery classes due to the weather.  So this will be 14th September at 8-9pm as before.  anyone who needs a lift either to the session or back, as it will be dark then, please let me know as I will happily do so.

There will be no session on 21st at Woolaston for the normal third in the month.

The rest of the year currently stands at normal sessions, but we will get the summer over before thinking about the winter!!

Thanks to all for all your hard work, everyone is doing wonderfully at the forms and Qigong.  Have a great August and I will see you all in September (maybe even with a tan….. we shall see!)

Joys Green – Normal classes will be running with the last class being 2nd August.  The first class back after summer is 6th September and then classes run as normal again.

Ross on Wye – Basically the same as Joys Green, classes are running as normal up until (and including) 2nd August and we are back again on 6th September

Woolaston – There is the usual third week in the month with no class on 20th July and then classes on 27th July and 3rd August are both late sessions running from 8pm to 9pm.  The 3rd August is looking a little bit uncertain at the moment as to how many students can make it.  After summer the classes start back on 7th September and there will be no class on 21st of that month as per usual.  I am not expecting to have to do any further late classes, but this will depend on the weather between now and August!

A Gentle Nudge – I realise that it is summer and that the evenings are long and warm and it therefore maybe easier to fill them with other things.  Please, if you can not make it to your session, contact me and let me know so I can judge accordingly.  If you do not have my contact details, ask and they shall be given.

The film looks into all the facts about our worldwide fishing industry and how we are bringing into free-fall so many species of fish that it is estimated that if nothing changes we will RUN OUT of fish in 40 odd years.  That means down to eating jellyfish and chips or maybe plankton burgers?!?  Some of the fishing facts are scary for example the  length of line put out each year by long line fisheries is estimated to be able to go 500 times round the planet!  Governments pay out 15 billion dollars  a year to subsidise  fishing and so encouraging over fishing.

I can’t sit back and do nothing and in this case there is something really simple to do and in the words of the film:

Ask before you buy – Only eat sustainable seafood – look for the MSC logo on your packs of fish

Tell politicians – respect the science and cut the fishing fleet

Join the campaign for protected seas – check out The End of the Line website and also The Marine Conservation Society and their off shoot with the Cooperative – Your Seas Your Voice campaign

It doesn’t take long, it doesn’t cost anything and it could make all the difference.  To paraphrase Charles Clover, investigative reporter, when all else has gone wrong and global warming has meant we can’t produce enough food to feed us on land, we are squandering our most precious resource we have – wild fish.

31st May 2010 – BANK HOLIDAY – There is no session at Joys Green.  I am waiting to hear back from students as to a session at Ross, I will keep you all posted.

1st June – Woolaston Club, as you mostly all know I am partaking in a archery course with The Bowmen of Dean, and need to get my sessions in.  After talking to several of you it was suggested that students would be happy to have a late session on a few occasions to allow me to get in my course.  I would like to pencil this session in as one of those.  Times will be 8pm – 9pm, though don’t go away if I am not there early, please hang around, I WILL come!

15th June – Woolaston Club, no session for the normal 3rd in the month.

29th June – Woolaston Club,  I would like to pencil this session in as another late session, if this suits.  Times will be 8pm – 9pm, though don’t go away if I am not there early, please hang around, I WILL come!

Good luck with your new life in Mexico at your Ranch and all the teaching, writing, learning and most of all parenting.  Keep in touch and keep practicing hard.  Maybe see you out there one of these days.

Check out their website  about their place Rancho San Pedro and all their exploits and, if you can, join them for one of their bound to be great workshop/holidays.

Just a quick Thank you to ray for cheering us up with that shirt on an otherwise sad occasion!

There are quite a few upsets to the normal schedule in the coming months.  As always I will try and remind everyone of these in class.

Joys Green, Community Centre, Mondays 10-11am
There are NO sessions on 5th April (Easter Monday) and 12th April.  I will put a question mark by 3rd May as it is a Bank Holiday, but will leave the decision up to the students.

Ross on Wye, St Mary Church Hall, Mondays 7-8pm
Students seem to be fine having a session on Easter Monday so that is how it stands at the moment.  There will be NO session on 12th April and again I will leave the 3rd May as a question mark.

Woolaston Memorial Hall, Tuesdays 7-8pm
There will be NO session on 13th April, 20th April (the normal 3rd week in the month) and again on 18th May (3rd in the month again).  Sean and Vivi are off to Mexico on 12th April so we hope to have a bye bye drink at the pub on 6th April to see them off.  I will say now that they will be missed and we wish them all the best in their new life. Check out what they are doing at : www.ranchosanpedro.com

Happy Training!

We had a wonderful meal at The Dragon’s Den in Monmouth with 12 people coming.  The restaurant if full of lovely carved objects and even the chairs and tables were carved with Dragons and other such creatures.  The food was so well presented it was almost too good to eat (almost, but we all managed to ruin the look!) Thank you to The Dragon’s Den for such a beautiful and tasty time.

Then on 21st February in Saint Mary Street, Chepstow, outside of another lovely Restaurant -The Shangri-La- Yi Quin Martial Arts and Lion Dance group performed a mesmerizing dance down the street.  Ocean and I got great views, on particular close look when the silver lion came and ‘nuzzled’ Ocean in the middle of the dance!  I have never seen his eyes so wide!

It is a great privilege to have such cultural things in the local area.  I can not advise strongly enough to take advantage of these events and go see them.

Talking of Lion Dances, as I have mentioned to most of my students, I found this amazing video of a Malaysian Lion Dance which is well worth looking at.