Middlesex Wing Chun Kuen Certified Regional Instructors

Sifu Joel Bell is the Instructor of the Middlesex Wing Chun Kuen branch of the Midlands Wing Chun Kuen Association (UK) run by his teacher Sifu Rawcliffe (the senior western student and representative of Grandmaster Ip Chun). Sifu Joel Bell began his training in Wing Chun in 1998 at the Solihull branch of Midlands Wing Chun Kuen, under Sifu Shaun Rawcliffe.

Having no previous martial arts experience, it was the philosophical side which drew him to begin practicing. Hooked from the first lesson, Joel began practicing with fellow students outside the club and, under the guidance of his Sifu and senior kung-fu brothers progressed through the system, finding that one's understanding of Wing Chun is never complete. To this day he still strives to maintain his 'beginners' mind' in training and continually goes back to polish the basic tools, within which the higher levels of the art can be expressed. As a professional teacher and lecturer, Joel has always been fascinated by how Wing Chun is passed on. This lead him to research and compare Western and Eastern methods of teaching, finding striking similarities in the methods used for directness of transmission, in the teaching of Jazz music and Martial Arts. As a musician and improvisation specialist, he has also found many parallels in the music world. Preparing to react appropriately to unknown events in an unknowable situation is the essence of both the improvising musician and self-defence. A jazz musician and martial artist conceptually practice their art the same way, honing their insticts and polishing the tools of their craft.

Sifu Joel Bell now teaches Wing Chun in Middlesex as the Middlesex Wing Chun Kuen (a representative branch of Sifu Rawcliffe's Midlands Wing Chun Kuen Association). In keeping with the philosophy of the Midlands Wing Chun Kuen the Middlesex school will be kept reasonably small and family-like, representing Sifu Rawcliffe, the Midlands Wing Chun Kuen and thereby Grandmaster Ip Ch