REDDITCH BONSAI
www.midlandbonsai.org www.redditchbonsai.co.uk
ALL MEMBERS PLEASE NOTE.
CHANGE OF MAY MEETING DATE.,
This email was sent out on the morning of Sunday 3rd. May.
We were contacted yesterday by the Manager of the Cricket Club to be informed that
they had discovered that a “funeral tea” which had been booked for the afternoon of
7th May now involved far more people than the club and/or the hirers of the rooms
were originally expecting. Some 200 plus people are expected to attend this event
celebrating the life of a recently deceased child. In consultation with the Chairman
we have therefore agreed to forego the use of the room this Thursday evening.
The meeting will now therefore take place on THURSDAY 14th MAY at the usual
time.
We hope that this does not cause any undue inconvenience to members.
Best wishes, R and A
EDITOR’S COMMENTS.
I make no apology for re-printing here an email which was sent out earlier about
various aspects of the show. What must be emphasised is the need for you to advise
David about the number of trees that you wish to bring along to the show, otherwise
we risk being overwhelmed with exhibits
The first part of this email concerns MBS members.
The MBS Chairman has been making enquiries about new clothing with the Society
logo thereon. He has found a reliable and cost effective source which he assures us
produces good quality goods. He would like to hear from members by return or
certainly by the next meeting whether anyone is interested in purchasing some “new
gear”.
There is a range of goods as follows:-
T Shirts @ £13.00
Polo shirts @ £15.00
Fleeces @ £22.00
Hoodies @£22.00
and
Softshell Jkt @£27.50
Please let the chairman or us know if interested.
The Chairman’s tel no is 07792316146. Email – da1963@hotmail.co.uk
Now the remainder of this email concerns everyone!
Firstly we need to know how many trees you propose bringing to the show this year.
This is MOST IMPORTANT as things got a bit overcrowded last year and
overcrowding doesn’t make for a good show, so please tell us asap how many trees
you want to bring and we will decide whether there is any need for a limit being
placed on overall numbers being brought by an individual member. We hope that
this will not be necessary. Please send a reply by email or what’s app to your
chairman/show secretary
Secondly the traders will be placed in the same location as last year but we want to
try and improve lighting there if we can. So, does anyone have access to any form of
spotlighting that they could loan for the day to sort this problem out, please?
Thirdly, Members of both societies will be able to enter trees in the usual classes
although there is a slight change to the criteria for the Masterclass this year. We will
be sending out the full list later but the Masterclass criteria now reads as follows :-
“This class is for trees which won in their class at the Annual Show last year”.
Fourthly will any member holding a trophy please return it to their society at the next
meeting. Thanks.
Fifthly there will be a TRIP arranged in the early autumn, but more about that later!
BOTANICAL GARDENS ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE SHOW.
David, your Chairman, has been to a meeting with Shannon Parker at the Gardens to
discuss arrangements. Here’s what he learned:-
- Saturday 6th early set between 3 -5pm Subject to no further booking of room.
- Sunday arrive 8am/ drop off at back entrance for traders and any large items.
The 2 traders to be allowed to park in back entrance - General parking Members to use main car park and to enter via the green gates and
walk across terrace. It’s been requested that we cover our trees while transferring trees to
the room in the gardens for plant protection from pest and disease. - All electrical items entering the gardens to be PAC tested.
- All members must enter their registration on the small ipad at reception for free parking,
but we have been asked not to do this all at the same time but to stagger it on the half
hours. - The room at the side of stage to be used for our teas and coffee
- Doors open for our show at 10.30
Editor’s note. Any volunteers to tell Angela that she has to have her kitchen kettle PAC
tested??
THE NEW WEB SITE.
Sven and his team have been busy over the early part of this year preparing a new
website for the Society. It will hopefully go live shortly so await further news on
this. We hope that you like the new look – we think that you will. See below. Latest
news from Sven
FLIERS ADVERTISING THE SHOW.
Fliers have already been sent out to you in the hope that you will be able and willing
to post them up in your area. Copies will be available at Thursday’s meeting if you
do not have printing facilities. Please do try and put up as many as possible.
ANNUAL SHOW – COMPETITION CLASSES
We set out below the competition classes for the Annual Show. Note the change to
the Masterclass
Class 1 The Bromage and Young MAME Trophy
Trees must be no larger than 6” (15cm) tall.
Class 2 The Graham Gavin STARTER TREE Trophy
Trees must have been exclusively designed and styled by a member from
non-bonsai material within the previous three years.
Class 3 The Little Timber SHOHIN Trophy
Trees must be no larger than 12” (30cm) tall.
Class 4 The Ray Bailey Trophy for GROUP PLANTINGS
Groups of two or more trees and Raft plantings.
Class 5 The Roy Taylor Memorial Trophy for LANDSCAPES AND ROCK
PLANTINGS
Penjing, root-over-rock etc..
Class 6 The Price and Adams Trophy for CHUHIN
This class is for trees from 12”(30cm) to 18”(45cm) tall.
Class 7 The Hal Thompson Trophy for the OPEN CLASS
This class is for trees which do not fall naturally into any of the other
classes.
Class 8 MASTER CLASS
This class is for trees which won in their class at the Annual Show last
year”.
THE DENNIS LLOYD MEMORIAL TROPHY for THE SUPREME TREE
OF THE SHOW.
When Dennis Lloyd, a former chairman, died prematurely in 1982 his family
donated his trees to the M.B.S. and the proceeds from their sale were used to
purchase this trophy which was first presented in 1983.
THE MATT WEIR SILVER SALVER for THE MOST “AWARDS OF
MERIT”
Matt was a founder chairman of the M.B.S. and presented this salver to the society at
the end of his period as chairman. Matt died in 1986.
THE KEITH KIRTLAND “PEOPLE’S TREE OF THE SHOW” TROPHY
The tree winning a public vote.
THE TROPHY FOR THE BEST TREE AND POT COMBINATION.
This speaks for itself. A recent addition to the line up.
Measurements are from soil level.
With the exception of Starter Trees, trees must have been owned by the entrant for at
least 6 months prior to the Show.
ADDITIONAL ITEMS.
Members are advised that, as last year, they are also asked to:- - Bring along a tree or trees for DISPLAY only.
- Bring along any ACCENT PLANTS, SUISEKI & etc that they may wish to
DISPLAY as a separate item.
ADDITIONAL NOTE.
Placement of “competition trees” from MBS and Redditch members will be under
the sole jurisdiction of DAVID ATTWOOD (MBS)
Organisation of the REDDITCH display will be managed by DAVID HOW
COMING UP AT THE MBS.
The May meeting will be a “Bonsai Bring and Buy”. There will also be
discussion/conversation about Final Show Preparation. This meeting will now take
place on 14th May.
COMING UP AT REDDITCH BONSAI.
The Redditch meeting on 21st May will feature an update on your trees in
development (remember the January meeting?). Showing trees and Getting ready for
a show, plus if there’s time a critique of any trees on display. The evening will be
assisted by David Cheshire.
BONSAI TIP OF THE MONTH.
Pinch back pine candles to encourage smaller foliage and back budding. Look out
for aphids and don’t forget vine weevil.
TRIP.
This Autumn we hope to run a day trip to a Bonsai Centre and Meditation Garden in
Derbyshire. It’s called The Cascades and it’s at Bonsall near Matlock. Have a look at
the website and let us know what you think. Teanah will be giving more information
at a later date. (cascadesgardens.com)
A NOTE FROM SVEN!
Website update: We have been looking at updating the website to make it look more
modern and to have a greater focus on bringing in new members. We initially started
looking for a new WordPress template to achieve this but since we couldn’t find one
that fit our needs, we decided to start building our own. This gives us long term
flexibility over the look and feel of the website.
We are now happy with the WordPress template and the different sections and will
be working on moving across the old content next. We are also looking at different
options for hosting providers to ensure we have the best balance between cost and
website performance.
Finally we looked at search engine optimisation to make sure we are one of the top
hits on Google for bonsai related content in the area once the new website goes live.
A sneak peek of the new website can be seen below
As part of the content update, we also want to display members’ trees to show off the
collection of nice trees owned by our members. And to give an idea to potential new
members what they could achieve with some guidance and experience in the future.
For that reason we would like to ask members of the MBS to send in pictures of their
trees for displaying on the website. We will be anonymising these to help protect
individuals’ privacy while also giving credit to the owners i.e. Satsuki Azalea by RG
GARDENING TIP OF THE MONTH.
We have started planting gladioli in succession to try and ensure a long season of
blooms for the house. The dahlias have also been started off in trays at home. The
cold weather in the last couple of days will have given them a shock! We planted out
some Larkspur which we had grown over the winter. Fortunately they are currently
protected by a cloche. Whatever the weather the weeds still grow so try and keep on
top of them. Is anyone observing “No Mow May” this year?
Harden off indoor-grown young plants for a week or two before planting them
out, popping them outside during the day and bringing them back in at night.
Continue the war on weeds, keeping borders and beds tidy with a hoe and getting
in close with a hand fork or weeding knife. Shop Weeding Tools.
Be water wise – water plants early in the morning or in the evening.
Sow salad crops every couple of weeks to get a continuous supply going.
Earth up your early potatoes to maximise the yield.
ANOTHER NOTE FROM SVEN!
After about 8 months since moving house, I finally managed to put the bonsai bench
back together. It had to be dismantled into 4 big pieces to fit into a trailer for
transport.
Once back together I took the opportunity to give it some coats of wood preserve and
some coats of fence paint and it is now looking in decent nick again – if I say so
myself.
If anyone is interested in the plans or has any other questions regarding cost of
building, let us know.
Sven Vanroy.
EDITOR’S NOTE.
We should like to express our sincere thanks to Sven and his team for the effort that
they have put into preparing the new website. They have done a sterling job.
Please reflect upon this and respond by sending in, and continuing to send in, the
photographs that Sven has mentioned above After all it’s YOUR website, so do
please remember that!
Richard and Angela Gilkes. 6th May 2026.
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