Portfolio
Current places of work;
- Leicester Fencing Club
- Harborough Swords (aka Market Harborough Fencing Club)
- Uppingham School, Uppingham
- Pochin Primary School, Barkby
- Leicester High School for Girls, Leicester
- Longslade Community College, Leicester
- King Edward 6th College, Nuneaton
- Burleigh Community College, Loughborough
- Dixie Grammar School, Market Bosworth
- Dagfa House School, Nottingham
- Swallows Summer School, Twycross House School
Fencing Demonstration at Signature South Lodge
South Lodge is a care home for elderly residents at various stages of independence. On Saturday 31 July 2010 myself and two other coaches from Leicester Fencing Club performed a fencing demonstration at the care home.
Starting from the beginning I spoke about where swords came from along with a litle bit of the evolution of swords. Please see the pictures for two of my swords I took along for them to see. {Please note they are replicas and not sharp.}
The residents were interested and keen to ask questions after a little prompting.
Medieval Night at Scraptoft Golf Club.
A local historical society had requested a demonstration of fencing. This left the brief quite open in terms of what I thought the group wanted. On the evening I had three of my adult beginners, now intermediate fencers to help me. Obviously it is something that cannot be done all by myself!
While I addressed the group and passed round a replica of a 16th Century Spanish Rapier. They were very impressed with it and I got it back successfully! One of the organisers, Mrs M Heywood, had fenced before and had borrowed some kit from me and gave an impromptu demonstration of a fencing lesson. After not fencing for several years she conducted herself very well!
From the feedback received the demonstration had been excellently received.
Olympic Challenge with Rupal Rajani from BBC Radio Leicester
BBC Leicester's Rupal Rajani wants to experience the Olympics, in fact she wants to get the experience of particiaption. To this end she is being trained in a number of Olympic sports. Listen as she learns the rudiments of thrust and parry...
BBC Leicester's Rupal Rajnai was a complete novice when it came to fencing so she sought the help of Chris Beadling of Leicester Fencing Club. |
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First off, he explained about the weapon Rupal would be wielding. It was an epee, the kind of weapon familiar from The Three Musketeers. "It has a large guard, a large fairly stiff blade and the whole target area is the body," says Chris.
LISTEN TO THE INTRODUCTION TALK FROM THE RADIO
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The weapon is a development of the duelling rapier and it is used in the Modern Pentathlon. Points are scored by being the first to hit anywhere, anyhow, anytime, just FIRST!
"In the outfit and mask it was really hard work. It needs a great deal of concentration."
Rupal Rajani, BBC Leicester Presenter
LISTEN TO RUPAL'S CHALLENGE |
Needless to say, this is potentially a dangerous sport so safety is of the essence. Rupal was togged out with a protective jacket, a glove for her sword arm, a mask, breeches, shoes and socks.
Rupal asked what the first thing a fencing beginner is taught. "How to stand and move backwards and forwards, says Chris. "This is a bit boring... but it is important."
You also have to learn the language of fencing and learn to move with grace, coordination and timing. After her first "work out" with Chris, Rupal was out of breath and felt decidedly unfit. "In the outfit and mask it was really hard work. It needs a great deal of concentration."
Chris, however, was very encouraging saying she was very quick minded. "At least grade one standard."
Watching Rupal's efforts was BBC Leicester's Tim Parker. Listen to his comments...
Offering his full considered, informed opinion on Rupal's performance he said, "I was standing open-mouthed. You moved with elegance and grace at one point. You were also elephanting around too." But regaining his gallantry he quickly remarked, " You need a high level of physical fitness... you didn't disgrace yourself at all." |
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FINAL PART OF RUPAL'S OLYMPIC CHALLENGE
Chris said that Leicester Fencing Club is in fine fettle. "We run a beginners' club regularly for youngsters of eight and upwards as well as adult beginners' groups."
Who knows, maybe he has found a new member in the shape of Rupal...
Amateur Dramatic Group – Stage Fighting for Dangerous Liaisons
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Lyndon Vaughn–Prosser and Jenny Hawkins from Broughton Astley Drama Society came to Leicester Fencing Club one night and asked for some assistance with their stage production of Dangerous Liaisons. After some weeks I was able to attend a practice evening they were having in order to assist with some stage fighting.
After Lyndon and Pip (the two protagonists) showed me what they'd done so far, I stepped in and taught them a few basics of stage fighting; 1. All moves are out of distance; 2. All strokes are 'pulled'; 3. No movement crosses the face. (Ref: Fight Direction for Stage and Screen by William Hobbs) |
Jen had then communicated to me the characters Lyndon and Pip would be playing, as well as how long the scene should last. Within 10–15 minutes I had come up with several actions for both men to practice. We also needed to work in some stage management; Pip had to be up–stage or down–stage at certain points.
Two hours later and we'd developed three parts to the fight scene with 95% of the elements required. All that was required now was for Lyndon and Pip to practice. A few weeks later I saw them perform a rehearsal on stage at the Hinckley Concordia. I was then lucky enough to be given two free tickets to see the show on the opening night. A job well done by all!
Now please read the testimonial.
Speech and Language Group at Longslade Community College
Roughly two years ago I taught at Longslade and had set up an afterschool fencing club for the students. Along with this we thought it may be suitable for our Speech and Language students to take part also. They are students who have various difficulties in all respects of speech and language; recognition of words, speech impediments etc. While they main group was full there were sufficient numbers to create a group for the S&L students on their own. Plus it assisted them to feel more comfortable.
It was evident that they didn't need much encouragement to fence each other! The group were lively and friendly who took to the language of the sport extremely well. |
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The outcomes of the group turned out to be higher self–esteem for the students as well as an increase of physical activity. I was also very impressed with the precision and ability of some students.
Please see the article in the Gallery.
Fencing Demonstrations at Foxton Fair
This was organised by Harborough Swords in the Summer of 2007. I attended as a coach and we had several juniors take part in some limited activity work. |
