Our Winter Show summary of the events of the day

Chris Thomas show walk about

What a busy show, we had over 400 visitors to our show and it was a fun packed day with much to see and discuss. Following an early start finishing off all the preparations for the show with the rest of the other visiting societies and traders, the show was officially opened by the Mayor. The show then was open to the public and within the first half an hour over 200 visitors had come through the doors.

Ritta Cooper's talk on Kusamono and accents

There were three great presentations during the day following the judging of the show for the various awards starting at 11am with John Armitage’s Tree Clinic, followed by Ritta Cooper talking on accents, Kusomona and others and finishing with Tony Tickle presenting on how to create a show Escallonia. We were also fortunate to have a visiting professional photographer as well as many other visitors from all around the UK including some from further afield in Europe and from Sweden in particular.

Raffle prizes

There were 22 fabulous raffle prizes to be won and all went to lucky winners and the prizes were kindly donated from a range of sources including the attending traders and the full list is below.

Raffle prize donor Raffle prize
John Pitt Ceramics £25 bespoke pot voucher
Windybank Bonsai Shohin Cork Bark Elm Bonsai tree
John Trott of Mendip Bonsai £40 Voucher for a one to one
Dai-ichi 3 Japanese Garden design
Chris Thomas of Celtic Knot Japanese tea room scroll
Erin pots Range of pots (x7)
Lodder Bonsai bv Mame Zelkova nire & bonsai sundries
Make-Bonsai Personalised tool kit
Bonsai Focus Japanese Bonsai magazines & book
Joephine Ikeda of Imari Design Tortoiseshell Obi Tote handmade bag
Dan Barton 3 Accent pots
Lee Verhorevoort Bonsai Shohin Korean Hornbeam
Doug Mudd £50 voucher for a bonsai stand
Niwaki Okatsune Bonsai sissors & Niwaki Book
Erin pots Range of pots (x6)
SNS Yamadori Norway Spruce Yamadori
Paul Goff Scroll
Simon Haddon of Suteki 3 Accent pots
Golden Acres Nursery Ltd 2 x £5 gift vouchers
Walsal Studio Ceramics Hand made Bonsai pot
Sueseki Sueseki
Stone Monkey Hand made Bonsai pot
The traders attending the show had a successful day with many people buying new trees to add to their collection as well as a range of pots, scrolls, and all the other bonsai accessories and sundries available. Here is a full list of the traders who attended our show.

The show seems to be a buzz with people, discussions and enthusiasm all day and towards the afternoon Chris Thomas took a walk around the show with a group to discuss some of the visiting club displays and the trees within the show which was excellent. The day rounded off with the awards presentations and our thanks to all who visited our show to make it a great event. The final stage was the take down, which seems to be a much quicker process that the set up. Now time to relax and work on plans for our show next year. In the meantime here are a selection of photos from the show and the traders.