Three Midsomer Norton martial arts instructors recently staged their third 3-Style Martial Arts Charity Seminar, raising £155 for Parkinson’s UK.

Sifu Keith McKay Cormack (Spirit of Shaolin Kung Fu), Derek Skidmore (PUMA Taekwondo) and Sensei Charlie Wildish (Holistic Karate) took turns to teach a multi-style group of martial artists.

Event organiser, Charlie Wildish, explained: “The trend today is that many martial arts are becoming more and more sport- or fitness-orientated. That can be a great deal of fun and good for self-development, though it does move away from learning real world self-protection capabilities.

“The idea of this seminar was to get three instructors who still place high emphasis on self-protection from Kung Fu, Taekwondo and Karate, and share knowledge. Taekwondo is largely based on Karate and Karate is largely based on Kung Fu, so the three styles have a lot more in common than people often realise.”

The event started with Holistic Karate, with Charlie teaching the most effective points to strike, especially if you have somebody who is pain resistant (such as from a result of drinking alcohol or taking drugs), and how to get into a better position to more effectively deliver strikes.

PUMA Taekwondo followed, with Derek teaching a brilliant section on defence against being attacked with a baseball bat. He taught safe ranges and how to get “inside” the attacker’s guard and effectively disarm him. Although not traditionally taught in most martial arts schools, this was very interesting and very well received by all taking part.

The seminar finished off with Spirit of Shaolin Kung Fu, with Keith teaching how to simultaneously deflect and strike and get inside an opponent’s guard.

Parkinson’s UK is a charity close to Keith’s heart, as his father suffers from this horrible disease. Keith said: “What an amazing day of real-life, modern, practical martial arts, delivered by three progressive, like-minded martial arts instructors to open-minded people, raising money for further research and treatment of Parkinson’s disease.”

If you are interested in yourself or your children benefiting from martial arts training, with an emphasis on real world self-protection, then all three instructors offer free classes to beginners to allow you to see what you like best before you commit. They can be contacted at: www.facebook.com/CLFKungFu (Kung Fu) / www.des-tkd.co.uk (Taekwondo) and www.holistickarate.com (Karate).

Charlie Wildish