Our club night this year had a very festive feel to the evening and we had many well dressed Christmas bonsai trees, a good supply of food and party games including a festive quiz. Thank you to everyone who came along and especially to Graham, Reg and Paul and Moira for organising the quiz and games and Sally for sorting out the yummy nibbles.
Following on from the very successful day of bonsai pot making in July this year with David Jones of Walsall Studio Ceramics here are our pots. We are pleased as punch with them and they all came out of the kiln in one piece and are now ready for planting up.
Dave has been a Swindon Club member for around 4 years and was new to the hobby of bonsai at that time. It was his grandson who wanted to learn originally but after 6 months left but Dave continued in the hobby.
1st place, DA Picea
A change from the usual at the club this year; we held a December meeting and invited members to decorate their bonsai trees with Christmas decorations. The response was amazing, we had to bring out additional tables to fit the record number of entries on! Our members fully got into the swing of Christmas.
Kit started bonsai as a hobby in 2012 and this was the same year he joined Swindon Bonsai Club. His first ever bonsai was a Cherry tree and his favorite tree is the Japanese Apricot the Prunus mume, while his least favourite tree species is Ash.
Paul working on a Juniper
Paul is the Chairman of Swindon Bonsai Club and has been doing bonsai since the early 1990s so has over 26 years experience with keeping, growing and maintaining bonsai trees. His first ever bonsai tree was a Siberian Elm which was given to him originally and he still has it now and it was in the Swindon Winter Image Show this year. Furthermore, to celebrate his bonsai achievements in 2016 he was enrolled on the Federation of British Bonsai (FoBBs) ‘Roll of Honour’ which for Paul was totally unexpected and took his breath away.
Derek started the hobby of bonsai in 2006 so has 11 years of practical experience with trees and plants as bonsai. He also does cacti and succulents as a hobby too and he finds that the two hobbies compliment one another. He is also the Chairman of the Wiltshire Branch of the British Cactus and Succulent Society.
Pinus thunbergii (Japanese Black Pine)
Everyone finds their firm favourite for bonsai and Ross is no exception and is dedicated to growing and developing an expansive collection of Japanese Black Pines (Pinus thunbergii) as bonsai. He started out in the hobby in around 2003 so has been developing his bonsai knowledge for 14 years.
Best Mame – Hornbeam by Amelia Williams
I started my bonsai hobby back in 2006 after starting my career in arboriculture since around 2000. I have enjoyed the 11 years of the hobby so far and it has presented a whole host of learning opportunities for me which has aided my career too.
1st place, SM Trident Maple
Sally started out with bonsai in 2006 and has been working hard for 11 years to develop her trees and has really mastered techniques like leaf size reduction and ramification on Trident maples and loves to work on them.