Traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu

SIFU MIKE BAKER

My interest in Wing Chun first originated from Bruce Lee. In learning more about him and the origins of his skill I was drawn to Wing Chun. After buying a few books, I resolved to learn Wing Chun, but only with a good teacher, as bad habits can be hard to correct.

Whilst researching for more information about Wing Chun and Qigong (which also interested me) I found a few magazine articles on Master Michael Tse. This was a very exciting time as not only had I found a teacher from whom I could learn both things that interested me but he also had studied with the best. He was a senior student of both Grandmaster Yang Meijun (Wild Goose Qigong) and Grandmaster Ip Chun (Wing Chun). It was not until 2 years later that when I was choosing a university that I had the opportunity to move to Manchester to study with him.

I remember my first class, I had decided to attend Qigong first and after the class I had told Sifu that I was interested in Martial Arts, to which he replied "if you want to see real Martial Art, follow me". We left the venue and walked to a different part of town to the old GPO building. Here after climbing about 6 floors we arrived at a room on the roof. To my amazement, this was the Wing Chun class. Everything I had imagined about roof top training in Hong Kong was in front of me in Manchester!

I started training Wing Chun in the beginning of 1995 , Over the following years I had the opportunity not only to meet Grandmaster Ip Chun but also to travel to Hong Kong and attend his class with my Sifu and Wing Chun brothers.

My passion for the skill is still as great today as in the very beginning where I witnessed the class for the first time. My goal is to stay true to both my Sifu and Sigong's (Sigong = Grand Teacher) methods and to pass on the skill to my students as accurately as possible, with the view to developing them into exceptional Wing Chun masters.

 

Sifu Mike Baker