Richard Devereux-Biggs

From the age of 12 years, Rich trained various Martial Arts and gained a fascination for them. He also discovered he had a natural ability of learning their basic skills quickly. After a layoff of a few years he decided to find a new art in which to train and happened upon Wing Chun. Rich knew nothing of this particular style of Kung Fu, apart from the fact that the late Bruce Lee had trained in it and based his own Jeet Kune Do style on the concepts of Wing Chun.

Rich first went to a class of Cheltenham Wing Chun Kuen in August 2001 and met Sifu Steve Woodward who immediately impressed him with his skill level. The way he was able to demonstrate Chi Sau with an opponent while looking at, and explaining to, other students whilst maintaining defence and simultaneously attacking with apparent little effort fascinated him. He found the relaxed, open-minded, non-egotistical and informal way in which the system was taught to be comforting, refreshing and a great atmosphere in which to learn. The following week he started training and after his 12 week induction became a full member in October of 2001.

Since then Rich has not looked back. He travels to Birmingham on a regular basis with other Instructors to train with his Si-Gung, Shaun Rawcliffe. Rich attended the 2nd World Wing Chun Conference in November of 2005 as part of an Instructors trip to Hong Kong. This gave him the opportunity to tune his skills with some of the best Wing Chun practitioners in the world. The trip made him realise what a great family he belonged to, and was able to train with which only intensified his thirst for more knowledge and his urge to improve his already formidable abilities.

He finds the knowledge and skill levels of both Sifu's Steve Woodward and David Akroyd-Jones to be of the highest standards. Both pass their skills on in an honest, friendly and skilful manner that inspires him to be the best that he can be, both in personal training and as an upcoming Instructor. All Instructors within Cheltenham Wing Chun Kuen and the extended family have a similar attitude with nothing to prove, no ego’s and pass on the true, un-diluted Wing Chun system as handed down directly from Grandmaster Ip Chun.

"Wing Chun has crossed over in to every part of my life, making me a more relaxed, calm and confident person. The system is simple and effective but not easy and it is this amongst other things that keeps you interested and focused on improvement. The art has great health benefits and is a system that works in a devastating way when it is needed, what more can I ask for?"

Richard Devereux-Biggs