Meetings: First Wednesday of every month, Mead Hall, Wheathampstead
Open @ 7.00 for 7.30 start
Programme 2024
Theme – Bonsai Basics demonstrated using Mame
free for members, £ 5 for visitors
Wednesday 3rd January
Talk By
Peter Shields
Introduction to Theme- Mame
Normal Tableshow
Wednesday 7th February
Talk & Demonstration By
Geoff Conybeare
Basic Bonsai Techniques
Normal Tableshow
Wednesday 6th March
Workshop Repotting, Pruning
& Advice On Mame
Bring your own trees, tools & soil etc
help available
Normal Tableshow
Sunday 17th March
All day workshop
Repotting, Styling & Pruning
Mead Hall, Wheathampstead
09.30 – 17.00
£10 Per Person
Including: Tea/Coffee/Biscuits.
Bring your own lunch,trees,soil & tools
Places limited to 16, book early
help available
Wednesday 3rd April
Talk By
CorinTomlinson Of 'Greenwoods Bonsai Nottingham'
Normal Tableshow
Wednesday 1st May
Talk By
Steve Mckee
Preparing trees for shows
Normal Tableshow
Wednesday 5th June
The ‘June Prune’Demo & Workshop
Bring your own trees, tools & wire – help available
Theme preliminary - Mame
Saturday 15th & Sunday 16TH June
11.00 – 17.00
CLUB SHOW
Kingsbury Barn, St Albans.
Watch out for details in Clippings
Set up will be Friday 14th June.
Trees 9am on Sat of show,
Collect trees 5pm after show
Wednesday 3rd July
40th Anniversary Party!
Come and celebrate with us,
All our Bonsai friends from local clubs and UKBA
With Food, drinks and
Show off our best trees for the tableshow.
Normal tableshow
Wednesday 7th August
4 x Mini Workshops On Bonsai Basics
Linda – Kusamono.
Roger - General Maintenance/Keeping Shape/Feeding/Pest Control
Shaun - Styling And Development Of Bonsai
Geoff - Air Layering
Normal tableshow
Wednesday 4th September
Talk By
Alex Rudd
Bonsai Pots
Theme Final for Collected material
Wednesday 2nd October
Workshop
Styling And Repotting Workshop For Evergreens
Bring your own trees & tools & soil etc
help available
Normal tableshow
Sunday 27th October
All day workshop
Repotting & Styling Evergreens Mead Hall, Wheathampstead
09.30 – 17.00 £10 Per Person
Incl.Tea/Coffee/Biscuits.
Bring your lunch, trees, soil & tools
Places limited to 16, book early
help available
Wednesday 6th November
AGM + Short Talk
Pests and Diseases By Linda McCardell
1st tableshow for new season (normal)
Wednesday 4th December
Christmas Party
Drinks, Nibbles, Quiz
Competition – Decorated Bonsai trees
Presentation of Competition prizes.
Regular Activities
Meetings
1st Wednesday each Month @ Mead Hall, East La, Wheathampstead, AL4 8BP
Open at 7.00 for 7.30 start. Workshops will be held in months when it is appropriate to work on trees, other meetings will be talks, demonstrations, and other club activities.
See the website for details of the annual programme.
CLUB NEWSLETTER “CLIPPINGS” produced quarterly
The newsletter contains details of the annual programme (also see the website.), seasonal tips on managing your trees, reports on talks and demonstrations, articles, other Bonsai events, outings, shows, competitions and Club news.
Table Show
The competition of trees held most months provides an opportunity for members to both show off their efforts on tree development, and get advice from the judges on the next development steps needed. There are 5 Competition Classes: Mame, Under 5yrs trained, 5-10 yrs trained, over 10 yrs trained, Flowering or Fruiting. Points gained accumulate towards annual prizes. Highest scorer holds the Rose Bowl Trophy for one year. Also a “Best Improver” award is presented for the highest score in Mame and under 5 years trained classes. Points are awarded:
1st 4 points 2nd 3 points 3rd 2 points unplaced trees, 1 point
Members entering more than one tree in any class cannot gain a place with the extra trees, but will be awarded 1 point for entering each extra tree. A member can only win the improvers award once, and cannot win if they won the Rose Bowl first. Committee members can only win the Rose Bowl once, after which they are excluded. Prizes are presented at the Christmas Social.
The winner of the Bonsai Christmas tree competition is awarded a small prize, but no tableshow points.
Theme Competitions
Every year the club selects a Theme for developing a bonsai. It could be a tree species or a style. Each theme runs for 2 years. In the first year there will be a preliminary tableshow to exhibit the ‘start position’ after initial development for each of the members trees. In the second year, the same tree will be presented at the ‘Final’ dedicated tableshow. All Theme tableshows will be judged by the members of the club, using voting chips (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place chips) Then points are awarded: - 1st 12 points, 2nd 10 points, 3rd 8 points, 4th 6 points, for entering a tree, 4 points. All points contribute towards the Club trophies, and the Banksian Medal. The Martyn Speirs Trophy will be awarded to the Theme final winner (at the end of the second year). Thus in any one year there will be two theme competitions, the preliminary for the current years theme, and the final for last years. Most talks and demonstrations in any year will be about the Theme chosen for that year.
Banksian Medal an award presented by the Royal Horticultural Society.
All points gained in the normal table show for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places will go forward to the Banksian Medal Competition. To this will be added the points gained in the Theme competition preliminaries and finals. Winners are not eligible to win again for the following 3 years
MONTHLY RAFFLE
Books, pots, tools and good bonsai material (collected trees, tree cuttings and seedlings) are raffled monthly to raise funds, with a Grand Raffle of Seasonal and Bonsai goodies at the Christmas Party. Donations to the raffle are always appreciated.
Annual Show in Kingsbury Barn, St Albans
Held every year usually over the second* weekend in June. All members are encouraged to show at least one tree. The aim is to show the accessibility of the hobby – by presenting trees under development as well as finished trees. Appropriate labels show the tree name and explain its history. Demonstrations are done of various techniques throughout the show.
*Will be moved to another weekend if this clashes with the St Albans Half Marathon
