History of The Paddle

The original Paddle Round The Pier was founded back in 1996 and quickly gained an international recognition as one of the hippest fund-raising events there is. Its original concept was to bring all recreational sea-users together to raise funds for charity. Beneficiaries in the past have been the RNLI (4 years), Surfers Against Sewage (4 years) The Rockinghorse Appeal (2 years) and SurfAid International (1 year).

The Paddle was then dropped for a number of years as the creator and main organiser Dave "Sandals" Samuel moved abroad to work. It was briefly taken on under licence by environmental pressure group Surfers Against Sewage for two years but on a much smaller scale - with no marquee or prizes. In 2006 Dave and his team took back the reins to produce last years record breaking event and due to it’s phenomenal success has now increased in size to fill a whole weekend of fun!

The White Crane Fighting Arts club helped out this year’s charity event by performing two Kungfu demonstrations and running a free drop in Taichi class on both days.

The club helped the day run smoothly where ever we were needed, including packing the whole event up at the end. We all enjoyed the weekend and are looking forward to being a part of the event next year.

THE ARGUS APPEAL

The South Downs Way Challenge

MAY 2006

3 Days / 105 miles all off-road mountain bike ride to raise money for several worthy causes distributed locally in Sussex by the Argus Appeal. 200 riders take part each year.

Cycle ride from Winchester to Eastbourne over three days with two nights camping. Food included (not beer unfortunately).

Total small figure raised of £180.00 so far not including any family, friends or club member?s late additions, usually tops around £250 mark each year.

Lots of fun, definitely recommended for other club members. Nice people, beautiful scenery of the South downs, traversing the ancient Bronze age trade route across Southern England, now a trail for walkers, horses and mountain bikes...
and strangely enough a single solitary uni-cycle coming down one of the steepest hills on the downs!! (no I'm not kidding)

Read all about The South Downs Way Challenge - click here (pdf).

White Crane Fighting Arts Punchathon Event

In the Summer of 2005 the White Crane Fighting Arts K ungfu and Taichi clubs decided that we would give back a little to the community. We spent a whole week doing just punches every lesson. Every one was involved from the club; kids and adults. Because it was the summer there was a big sweat on but every one dug deep into their reserves. We estimated that we did over 75,000 punches that week.

We always love a good excuse to train hard and this way we get to help others and have some good fun raising money.

As you can see from the certificate we raised £4,593.00

All the money raised will be used to continue funding the Children?s Hospice South West and help build a new hospice in Bristol. Children?s Hospice South West is the only hospice in the South West; it supports over 200 children and families each year. They are offered respite, relaxation, friendship and a sense of community. The hospice also shares the 24 hour care of the sick children and supports families in bereavement.

I would like to thank every one who helped contribute to making this a very successful event.