Ray Lau
1958 - 2009

Ray Lau joined the Bankeside Schoole of Defense in the year 1999 already with a background in western and eastern martial arts.  With his knowledge and expertise, Ray became well involved with the Bankeside Schoole of Defense, achieving the rank of Free Scholar in 2006, assisting with teaching, development of curriculum and adminstration of the school including the creation of the current school logo. In 2007 he was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer and moved to Hong Kong to live with his family and to seek other possible treatments. Ray Lau finally succumbed to the disease on April 5th 2009 after a long and vigorous battle.

Ray was an inspiration to our school. His humor and knowledge is very much missed at Bankeside. Always an honourable, intelligent and extremely capable man. We are proud to call him "Bankeside Free Scholar".

Wilhelmina (Mina) Mengler
1964 - 2009

Mina Mengler joined the Bankeside Schoole of Defense in 2008. Years previously, she was always at Bankeside's events with a video camera in hand filming not only our demonstrations, but some of the school's curriculum and choreography as well.  Despite her physical limitations, Mina continued to train with excellent results. Early in 2009, she took a fall and was unable to continue training even though she completed the school requirements to test for the Scholars rank. Much to the surprise of the instructor, she asked permission to test anyway and carried away the prize of Bankeside Scholar.  In July of 2009, Mina passed away from complications due to a recent injury.

Mina was always there with a smile and a keen learning of the art. She was always insistent on training and performing with Bankeside, even when her limitations gave her trouble. A truly remarkable and inspirational woman.