May the Fourth be with you! Learn to fight with a lightsaber at new Biggleswade class

Silver Sabres Combat Academy has opened a new club in town, with lessons for people of all fitness levels taking place weekly at the Weatherley Centre.

The team are regular contributors at MCM Comic Con in both London and Birmingham, where Star Wars fans have watched members enact Jedi and Sith style displays and combat duels. They also visit similar events around the UK.

Instructor Lee Bozier-Lown, known as Boz: "LED Sabre is a new combat sport, designed to create epic duels with beautiful weapons of light. Silver Sabres has a solid reputation in the world of sports and events display.

"These classes offer more than just hitting each other with LED sabres; the syllabus is rich and deep incorporating the mindfulness, precision of body mechanics and movement, control over breath and impulse control encouraged by the sport's traditional Tai Chi roots."

The class syllabus has been developed by two martial arts experts with decades of experience - founder and enthusiast Faisal Mian, a 30-year practitioner of traditional Wu style Taiji Quan, and co-founder Nick Musson who helped develop a "synergistic LED sabre syllabus" - blending the principals of Taiji weapon forms and traditional European longsword techniques.

Boz, who lives in Clifton, added: "Silver Sabres has a competition team who compete in the open tournaments circuit and will be representing the UK in Paris this July.

"Alongside this, there is also an events display team who have to train to an even higher level because displays of costumed combat take place without any kind of protection and are never choreographed. This requires great control and discipline and understanding of one’s opponent/partner.

"The academy has done something truly new with something ancient."

Classes are currently for ages 14 and over, and take place at the Weatherley Centre on Wednesday evenings at 8pm. They will be foundation sessions.

For more details or to enquire about joining the group, visit the Silver Sabres website.