Just after gaining my black belt in Kyushindo Karate, I went in search of Tai Chi. I found a club in Sutton run by an instructor named Trevor. He taught a style, developed by Chee Soo, called ‘Lee Family’, which he was taught by Chan Lee.

Like George Mayo, Chee Soo had a similarly vague path to creating his Chinese arts. He studied Aikido with Kenshiro Abbe and also had early exposure to Judo in the UK in the 1940s and 1950s.

This Tai Chi was compact and could be done in 1 square metre. It was very popular in the 1970’s.

After the Tai Chi class, Trevor also taught a Kung-Fu class, the style developed by Chee Soo was called Feng Shou – ‘hand of the wind’. I went to a few of them, and looking back on them, there was a strong Aikido influence.

I wasn’t able to do the particular evening regularly so I went to his other Tai Chi class in Carshalton for a year or so until, unfortunately, Trevor passed away due to shock from a food allergy.

White Crane

Around 1996, I tried a local kung fu club. I couldn’t get on with this; plus, the instructor was hands-off and sat on the stage for most of the class, directing the senior students. It also finished when he felt like it, sometimes going onto 11 pm from an 8-9:30 timetable.

Other Tai Chi

I have tried various evening classes in Tai Chi over the years and the forms taught were 24-step or Short Yang. They were all good for the mind and body, but there was no martial involvement in any of the classes. Maybe next I will try the Chen style Tai Chi that my Bagua instructors teach.