COME together – that’s the fighting talk issued by York kung fu guru Geoff Rennison to the city’s martial arts community.

Active in all forms of fighting disciplines for more than 40 years, Rennison has organised the first ever York Martial Arts Festival.

The weekend-long event will be held at the Jack Raine Foundation base in the Maltings in York’s Walmgate on November 23 and 24.

The Festival is being run in partnership with the Jack Raine Foundation and also the Oriental Sports Association.

And all York’s wide range of fighting artists are asked to attend the inaugural get-together, which will bring experts from across the country in the sports of karate, kung fu, kickboxing, wrestling, boxing, taekwondo and ju jitsu, plus a host of other yet more specialist pursuits.

Supplementing the showcase of martial arts will be an educational and safety link to ensure that all clubs are operating within best practice guidelines and legal requirements.

Said Rennison: “There will be at least 20 instructors from across Britain who will be on hand to demonstrate the skills of all the various martial arts.

“But as the only educational provider in the area, I am also trying to get martial arts to link up with education working in partnership with the JRF.”

Rennison, a retired nurse, who travels across the country promoting stronger education links with martial arts, added that he represents ASDAN (Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network) a charitable organisation that provides education in various forms.

Rennison said that the group represents martial arts in 6,000 schools and colleges, plus 40 universities nationwide.

“People can just start up clubs, but they and the people they attract as members need to be properly protected, so that means education in safety, insurance, CRB checks,” added Rennison, now a Lau Gar kung fu exponent after competing in boxing, judo and kickboxing.

“I am not interested in the politics of martial arts, but in making sure people can take them up in a secure environment.”

Rennison explained how ASDAN used the Amateur Boxing Association as a template for providing its education-linked services, adding how sports wishing to be recognised as potential events in Olympic Games would need to be run as efficiently as a group like the ABA.

Means of achieving such status will be discussed at next weekend’s Festival as well as demonstrations of the various disciplines.

Doors open at the JRF base on Saturday and Sunday at 10am. Pre-paid tickets cost £10 per day, with tickets on the door at £15 each day.

For more details phone Rennison on 07754 764321.