About the Organisers
Barbara Richter
I started in 1974 as a student of Martha Crewe, who was a student of Gerda Geddes. At that time Gerda was the only known accessable teacher in London. After a short time with Martha she introduced me to John Kells who had just returned from Taiwan where he had been studying with Dr Chi Chiang-Tao. John had been teaching a small group prior to this but was keen to expand his classes and to teach them Dr Chi's form and pushing hands in preparation for Dr Chi's visit the following year. I very quickly became addicted. Even from my very ignorant state I could recognize the very different and essential quality of what John was presenting. ( I don't mean, by that, to denigrate Gerda's form. She had her own particular and very spiritual interpretation of it, but it did not follow Tai Chi principles and she didn't do pushing hands. )
So in 1975 I was supremely fortunate to meet Dr Chi and have him as my teacher for six months. Cheng Man-ch'ing lived next door to him in Taiwan and was one of his teachers, so the Yang style lineage is very pure and direct.
I stayed with John for ten years during which time I began to teach, which is when I really began to learn, and after, depended on my good friends Adrian and Alan, who were able to make frequent visits to Dr Chi in Canada, where he had moved, and who came back with much wonderful teaching.