A six-week course for women, Sunday afternoons, £60, run six times a year by Ffion Davies
Self-defence for women
A six-week course for women of any age and fitness, two hours on Sunday afternoons, £60 for the six: awareness and avoidance, voice and boundaries, releases from grabs and holds, strikes that work for a smaller body, and getting up and away from the ground. Taught by Ffion Davies in a women-only room, with no sparring and no expectation of any previous training.
Most of self-defence is not fighting. It is noticing early, saying no loudly, keeping distance, and leaving; the physical part is what you need when those have not worked. The course teaches all of it, in that order, in a room of women only, and it is the most-recommended thing the club does.
Week one is awareness and avoidance: where trouble starts, what the early signs look like, the habits that make you a harder target, and how to use your voice, which turns out to be the most effective technique on the course. Week two is distance and the fence: how to keep someone out of reach with your hands and your words, and what to do when they keep coming. Weeks three and four are releases from the common grabs (wrists, clothing, hair, a hug from behind), done slowly, then faster, then with resistance.
Week five is striking: the palm heel, the elbow, the knee, the stamp, the targets that work for a smaller person against a larger one, done on pads with full force so you know what it feels like. Week six is the ground, because many assaults end up there: how to protect yourself, create space, get up and get away. The last half hour pulls it together in scenarios, at whatever pace each woman chooses.
Ffion has taught the course since 2018 and holds a brown belt in jiu-jitsu, a kickboxing instructor qualification and a specialist self-defence instructor certificate. A second female instructor assists so that every pair has close attention, the room is women-only with the shutter down, and nobody is asked to do anything they do not want to. Survivors of violence are welcome; tell Ffion beforehand if you would like to, and she will make sure the course works for you.
Courses run six times a year with twelve places each, on Sunday afternoons from 2 to 4pm. Dates for the next three are on the gradings page. Women already training at the club take it for free, and about a third of each course join a class afterwards.
What is included
- Six Sundays, 2pm to 4pm, twelve places, women only, the shutter down
- Awareness, voice, distance, releases, strikes, the ground, scenarios
- Taught by Ffion Davies with a second female instructor assisting
- No sparring and no experience needed; any age and fitness
- £60 for the six weeks, free to women already in the club
- Six courses a year, the dates on the website
What it costs
£60 for the six-week course, two hours each Sunday afternoon. Free for any woman in the club already. No joining fee and no contract. The timetable has every session with its spaces and the memberships side by side; the gradings page has the dates, the places left and the belt ladder.
Questions about women's self-defence
I am not fit and have never done anything like this. Is it for me?
It is designed for exactly you. There is no fitness test, no sparring, and nothing done fast until you choose to. Women from eighteen to seventy-four have taken it. Wear whatever you can move in.
Will one course make me safe?
No course can promise that, and we would not trust one that did. Six weeks gives you awareness that lasts, a voice you will use, and a few physical techniques that work under stress if practised. Women who want more join a class; the techniques are taught weekly in BJJ and kickboxing.
Can I come with a friend?
Yes, and many do; booking together means you will be partnered together if you want to be. Mothers and daughters over sixteen come together most courses.
Your first session is free. Bring a T-shirt and joggers.
Tell us who is training, how old they are and the discipline you are curious about, and we ring back the same evening with a session that has space. Train barefoot on the mats, ask the instructor anything afterwards, and decide then. Or ring the club.