Hi. It´s nice to catch up with you all once again, I´m currently nearing the end of a well deserved holiday in the sun spending quality time with family. It´s been a great break and I am already looking forward to a nice Christmas with my mum. Its her 81st Birthday today and she has had a nice day which of course, means I have too. We went out for lunch with family friends and whilst I´m writing she´s reading her book.

Both of us miss my dad more than words can say but he´s always here and with us both of us forever. He had an amazing life and was a giant of a human being- I have been thinking recently of gifts he left me other than my fighting spirit, strength and dedication to always doing the right thing. I´m just like that Spike Lee joint. It´s why I believe firmly in helping others fight for their rights especially when they feel that they can´t go it alone.

My auntie Blossom was a public speaker and a teacher like dad as well as a writer too. Both fled apartheid and South Africa´s children became political exiles due to fighting back against white supremacy.

Our roots are from the tribes of South Africa and our surname is a slave name. In fact, just recently my cousin Melanie who is African American and my auntie´s daughter said she met a long lost relative of our family. We are black people and mixed race black people on dad´s side. I´m very proud of my roots, which has some outstanding black activists and some would say freedom fighters who stood up to hate way back when.

Of course, mum has told me a lot about dad´s fight for his rights when he came to the UK as he did himself. She campaigned actively with my auntie Blossom to get the Metropolitan Police to leave him alone- When he came to the UK- He was stateless and without a passport and the cops put him in a hotel with a guard on the door. They called him a bad citizen for fighting back via stage plays in South Africa against the apartheid regime. He always was a superb stage actor.

He was also a teacher and after he got his passport issues resolved and made his new home here he ended up teaching white kids English, and of course he started dating mum and the rest is history. It´s nice to see that like my father I have ended up becoming a sportsman and athlete. Dad used to play cricket for Cambridge.

I think my journey into Muay Thai caught both him and mum off guard when I first started competing. His quiet little boy who made some mistakes but in the end came right went from learning to fight to actually fighting. Mum has always encouraged me as did my father even when I lost and lost.

Mum asked me just recently how long I have been training for now “Over 15 years” I said casually. “that´s good” she replied. Both her and dad would agree I have always had a big heart. Winning two titles has shown me I can do anything I put my mind too. I guess that´s how Bristol Copwatch came about. I guess that´s why I have been running my own business for a while now. I see something I feel I should do and put my time, creativity and energy into and I just go for it. I absolutely get that from my father.

Today is mum´s day. She comes from a working class family and her dad was a soldier. He fought in both world wars he also did a tour of Northern Ireland. When he left the army he wanted to be a cop. The whole family objected. “We have always had a low opinion of the police.” She told me recently. She worked as a teacher for many years running both R.S and sociology departments. She has always been passionately anti-racist and a feminist and at 81 will never change. She where my never give up comes from.

I thought I´d write about my parents because today is special. It would of been dad´s 92nd birthday on the 21st of this month. Everyone tells me I look just like him. I act like him always inspired to do the right thing and holding the police to account is one of my favourite things. Just like public speaking and writing it´s a natural bias of mine. Muay Thai is of course my hobby and passion. I´m getting better at that too. Training for years does that I guess. I can still give you a dead leg.

I´m back home in Bristol on Monday, and later in the week what feels like my speaker and workshop tour begins with Bristol Copwatch. Like that brother Afu Ra I whirlwind through cities. I´m a firm believer in sharing knowledge of our rights and helping communities build resilience. My own fight for justice is ongoing, in the end as dad would say to me it´ll come right. Have a great weekend, train hard and just like the last time…I´ll see you on that road.