Sifu’s Woodward and Akroyd-Jones had been learning the art of Wing Chun for 10 years before they met Sifu Shaun Rawcliffe and Ip Chun Si Gung at the start of 1993. By this time they had reached a high level of Wing Chun skill and were teaching their own classes, however, they felt that there was something missing.
While training with their instructors, and each other, they had both developed a love of Wing Chun but the ‘missing’ element led them to investigate other Wing Chun families and styles with a desire to increase their knowledge and to be the best Wing Chun practitioners that they could be!
It was during this investigative period that Sifu Steve Woodward managed to learn about, and subsequently be invited to, a seminar being hosted by the eldest son of Wing Chun’s Grand Master Ip Man, Ip Chun, and his most senior western student Sifu Shaun Rawcliffe.
Their attendance at the seminar lifted the mist and it was clear to them what they needed to do and through good fortune, Sifu Shaun Rawcliffe accepted them into the Midlands Wing Chun Kuen family as students.
