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Chat Ying Kuen HISTORY

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The Birth of CYK Kung Fu

Vince Bloomfield started his kung fu journey when he was at the ripe old age of 22. It was a small club inHaverhill, Suffolk at the local sports centre. He saw an advert in one of the many local Chinese takeaways for Lau Gar Kung Fu.

Vince trained here for approximately two years. Sadly the Lau Gar Club closed due to unforeseen circumstances and as such the instructor at that time opened up another school, for which he will not name. He stayed with this unnamed club for six years. Vince made the grade as junior instructor after only four years and taught in different venues around the Suffolk area under the guise of this unnamed kung fu club.

He practiced vigorously and started to develop his own style of ‘Adaptive’ kung fu, he had no name for this style at this time. It eventually came about that the unnamed style Vince was practicing was not an officially recognized kung fu style and the instructor was not an official teacher of kung fu. This, as you would expect, angered Vince, not only for himself but for the many other students that were still training under this unofficial style. (Word of warning – There are many, styles still out there to this day, that does not have recognised instructors and the style they supposedly teach is not official. Do not be afraid to ask to see the teacher’s qualifications and the authenticity of the club/school you wish to learn from).

Vince, along with some of the higher graded students started to rally round to find another venue to train at. At the same time Vince created a new syllabus for the students to study and understand.

This was the birth of CYK Kung Fu – CYK meaning Chi Ying Chuan - Seven Animal fists (Mandarin dialect). Vince arranged for all the students from the unofficial style to meet at the Yellow Dot Sports club (sadly no longer there) in Sudbury, Suffolk to talk about the future and the birth of this new adaptive style.

Vince made the decision to take his new style to the British Council for Chinese Martial Arts (BCCMA) to ‘hopefully’ make his new adaptive style officially recognised and for him as the only instructor to be fully qualified. The BCCMA said they would arrange a meeting with one of the Chairman, Master Derek Frearson, for him and his students at the White Crane Kung Fu School in Leicester. Master Frearson was happy with this new style saying it would bring a fresh feel to the council as CYK kung fu brings modern self-defense and traditional kung fu together as one. Vince has since been teaching and developing this style which continues to grow with help from Masters such as Master Bob Weatheral, Master Zu, Grandmaster Wong and Master Chen Lei. Vince was given the honor and title of becoming a British Master in 1998 by the BCCMA which was also presented to him by Master Chen Lei. The CYK School runs yearly workshops along side its many lessons per week. Vince and his students also have the privilege of trips to China where they study many different aspects of Chinese martial arts including Tong Bei & Chin Na. They have also been trained by the famous Shaolin Monks within their home town under the Songshan Mountain, Henan Province.

The kung fu school would like to thank Master Chen Lei who has been a massive influence on the CYK school for all the times he has traveled to us from China and taken time out of his busy schedule to help all of the students develop their training in traditional styles and for the fantastic cultural trips he organizes for anyone wishing to have a taste of Chinese life.

Training times:

CYK Kung Fu

Sunday – 7.30 – 9.00pm

Tuesday – 7.30 – 9.00pm

Thursday – 8.00 – 9.30pm

Tough Tigers Kung Fu (Children)

Wednesday – 6.30 – 7.30pm

Tai Chi & Chi Kung

Thursday – 7.00 – 8.00pm

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