This weekend, Saturday 3rd August 10-5pm and Sunday 4th August 1-5pm the Northern Ireland Bonsai Society will be in the Walled Garden at Greenmount Campus in Antrim. We will have a small display of bonsai along side a ‘Have a go at Bonsai’ with club members working on their own trees and allowing the public to watch and join in.
Why not come along for a walk around the walled garden and also visit the Koi show taking place as well.
Some of our Members were lucky enough to make it to the Best of 20 Years Trophy at the weekend. The memories….
Our Next meeting will be February 15th, a week later than normal as a number of our members are attending the Noelanders Trophy.
We will be looking at pot selection for our trees and getting a full run down of the 20th Noelanders Trophy from those who attended.
Trees can be brought for advice and of course for our show and tell section.
Happy New Year to all our Members and followers here on the Blogsite.
2019 will will see some changes being made in the programme for the club during the year. If you want to get all the ‘Nitty Gritty’ of the changes and even influence the direct we take, then I’d advise that you attend the Club meeting and AGM this Friday 11th January at Cregagh Youth and Community Centre, Belfast at 8pm.
However, the short version, or as short as I can make it, is as follows….
In 2010 we changed the club meetings from ‘talk based’ to ‘workshop orientated’. This proved successful but during the last few years we have seen numbers attending meetings vary widely from month to month. We have looked at this and encouraged feedback from the membership and now feel that 2 hours on a Friday night isn’t sufficient for most people to bring a tree along for serious work. We however didn’t want to roll back to the old format either.
So, as a result, this year we are changing it up a little with each Friday night session being a presentation, talk, demo or focused workshop. This will cover design, techniques, species, etc. Each night will have a show and tell critique to ensure we get plenty of trees at each session. As always, members are encouraged to bring along anything bonsai orientated that they want to sell or swap. We will also be adding Saturday morning workshops to the programme this year running for a 4 hour minimum as a trial to see how attendance goes.
We are also looking into the use of technology to bridge the geographical restrictions we have in Northern Ireland to give us access to teachers and professionals outside for Ireland and even the UK for that matter. Stay tuned for more on this during the year.
The calendar page for 2019 has been updated. Friday night topics will be updated as things fall into place. We are being led by what our members have requested to be covered but this is subject to change.
We hope this adds an extra element to what the club already offers and will boost learning among our membership.
On Friday 9th November we are delighted to have Peter Warren of Saruyama Bonsai back with us again and spending a weekend with Club Members.
All starting onFriday the 9th @ 8pm Cregagh Youth and Community Centre, the evening will be open to all, members and non-members alike. If you are a member and attending, bring a friend. If you interested in bonsai and not a club member, come along and see what it’s all about with no pressure to join on the night.
Peter will be taking 6 trees, different species and different levels of development through a in depth 5 year plan. He with set out goals and targets looking specifically at Repotting, fertilising, growth, pruning and wiring. Some of this will be work done on the night showing the first steps. Two of the trees will be raw material, two well established and a few in between, and for people wanting to have trees at home, but they don’t have the skills is important to know When is the best time to call an Atlanta tree service professional? – Tree Service – Georgia Tree Company to help you take care of your trees.
This will be a great practical learning with an open invitation to ask questions as we go.
Saturday and Sunday are member only workshops with Peter being held in Newtownards. All places are filled months in advance.
For further info contact info@nibonsai.co.uk
