News and Reviews

New Classes:

Great excitement as our new trainee tutor, Diane has started classes in Stratford and Treddington.

Diane is teaching Tai Chi- Chi Gung classes on Monday 11-12noon at St.Andrew's Parish Hall and Centre, Shottery and in Treddington WI Hall at 2 - 3 pm.

Well, we all did it! We joined in with the Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations parade on Saturday April 25th 2009.

The rehearsal at 8.30am was held in the rain and we were concerned that the rain was here to stay, but no, the clouds rolled by and the sun shone as we paraded down Bridge Street. One group did the Double Sabres on one side of the road, whilst the other group did the Chen Fan.

It was an amazing sight as so much was happening at the same time - motobikes, skate boarders, BMX bikers, drama groups, circus skills, belly dancing and all to the beat of a Samba band!

We paraded off Bridge Street behind the Coventry Brass Band into the Gardens where we demonstrated the Form, the Single and Double Sabre, the Fan, and finally Debbie and Paul demonstrated the Left and Right handed Double Sabre - stunning!

Thank you to one and all who joined us in the celebrations, either demonstrating in Bridge Street in the Pararde or joining us in the demonstrations on Bancroft Gardens - and a special thanks to Sian, Rosie and Ceri.

The photographs are in our rouges gallery page

Chen Fan Saturday Morning

Phew what a morning! It was brilliant fun, and oh so noisy with 20+ fans closing and opening together. It looked specatular as we all had different coloured fans and we fluttered and spun under our fans like a flock of happy peacocks - golds, blues, reds and blacks.

The Fan is such a joy to do and we learnt the first fifteen moves over the three hours, it took a lot of concentration and co-ordination to learn, and we slowly added on chunks of the form, reviewed what we had learnt, then moved onto the next section.

We stopped for cake, biscuits and teas at 11o'clock, and only then did we notice how much we had used our wrists - but it didn't stop us tasting the cake and biscuits!

Again the morning followed the same agenda as in the Double Sabre, with the more experienced practioners joining us for the final hour.The time flew by in a snap of the fan, and when we all went through the Fan form together at the end of the morning it was super and felt, for me, a real acheivement - well done one and all!

We are planning a review session on June 13th - more details later....

Double Sabre Saturday Morning

We had a great time at the Double Sabre Saturday on Feb 14th, with about 18 of us turning out for the class. We all learnt the first of four parts of the Form, with much swishing, clanging and swinging of swords!

We stopped for tea and biscuits where we tried out the different types of swords - metal or wooden - and talked of the different grips and ribbons used as decoration.

The more experienced group joined us about 11 o'clock, who worked on the second and third parts - it was inspiring to watch them and I was struck by how much they enjoyed learning and doing the Form.

We ended the morning by going through Part One all together and feeling very proud of ourselves, if a little dizzy after all those Salute to the Sun's!

We are going to have a revision day later in the year, so watch out for the dates.

Thank you all for attending and making it such a success.

Thank You!!!

Our Open Session, where we demonstrated all the forms of Tai Chi, Chi Gung, Single and Double Sabre, Fan and Cannon Fist was a roaring success, raising £100.00 for the Stroke Association.

About 60+ people turned up from all our different classes and other people to watch the demonstrations and meet other members of Swan Tai Chi.

What was the best bit for me was when we started doing the form and apart from a handful of people, everyone stood up and joined in - It was fantastic.

The coffee and cakes went down very well, with not a crumb left by 12.30... the receipes are below - enjoy

Well done and thank you on behalf of the Stroke Association!

Our thanks go out to the Guardian and Observer newspaper for including the Swan School of Tai Chi and Chi Gung in their guides to Massage and Relaxation (part two) page 38 - National fame!

It has been great to meet new students and also old friends getting in contact with us - a double winner!

If there is anything else you would like us to teach, almost a Tai Chi wish list, please just speak to Debbie, Judith or Paul.

Tai Chi Cakes

Seed Cake

6oz butter/sugar/SR flour

3 eggs

2oz ground almonds

Zest and juice of one lemon

2oz mixed dried candied fruit

1 tablespoon marmalade

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon Demerara sugar/caraway seeds

Place the butter/sugar/SR flour, eggs, ground almonds, zest and juice of one lemon, tablespoon marmalade and the ½ teaspoon baking powder in a magimix and mix together until smooth, and lightened in colour. It should be a soft dropping mixture. Add milk to soften if required

Add candied fruit, pulse to mix.

Pour into 2lb loaf tin. Add the demerara sugar/caraway seeds to make the crunchy topping.

Cook for 1 to 1 ¼ hours 170 degrees

Marble cake

6oz butter/sugar/SR flour

1 oz cocoa powder

3 eggs

A little milk

½ teaspoon baking powder

Place butter/sugar/SR flour, eggs and ½ teaspoon baking powder into magimx and mix together until smooth.

Divide mixture into two by adding half to the baking tin.

Fold in the cocoa powder and milk to the remaining mixture

Add to baking tin

Using a knife, draw the mixture in a figure of eight to achieve the ‘marble effect’

Cook for 30 mins (approx) 185 degrees

Lemon cake

6oz butter/sugar/SR flour

3 eggs

2oz ground almonds

Zest and juice of one lemon

½ teaspoon baking powder

Juice of one lemon (for pouring sauce)

Place the butter/sugar/SR flour, eggs, ground almonds, zest and juice of one lemon and the ½ teaspoon baking powder in a magimix and mix together until smooth, and lightened in colour. It should be a soft dropping mixture.

Pour into 2lb loaf tin.

Cook for 1hr 170 degrees

Once the cake in out of the oven, immediately pour over the lemon juice. It will bubble up then soak into the cake. Leave to cool in the tin.

Chocolate Brownies

5oz butter

4 eggs

11 ½ oz sugar

1 Teaspoon vanilla essence

Pinch of salt

5 ½ oz plain flour

1 big bar of plain/white chocolate (200gramme) broken into small pieces

Melt butter and cool

In a large bowl add eggs, sugar, vanilla essence, salt and plain flour

Add butter and beat together

Fold in chocolate piece

Pour into baking tin – large roasting tin style

35-40 mins 170 degrees for soft centred, slightly longer if you want a more ‘solid’ texture

As always, please contact Debbie, Judith or Paul for further information