This is a recap of the meeting held on 16th July – click here for the original event information.
We were looking forward to welcoming our old friend, Malcolm Hughes, for this meeting when he planned to spend the evening talking about Bonsai in general and more specifically how to ensure that you enjoyed your time spent upon the hobby. Unfortunately Malcolm was prevented by illness from attending.
The evening was, as has been the case for many weeks now, pretty warm and the decision was made to move the meeting outside to the hard standing beside the car park.
Wes Pinfield then gave a short presentation upon part of the issue that we had expected Malcolm to cover when he produced two trees that he had had in his collection for many years and which gave him a great deal of pleasure but were, as he said, not necessarily the finest of bonsai. Members demurred upon this opinion. Thereafter members spent a pleasant evening working on and discussing their trees and it was noted that there was a great variety of species on show.
Richard Gilkes, club Secretary
The July meeting presented an interesting statistic. Since this new website launched for the society at the turn of 2026, we’ve been delighted to welcome visitors to five of the six meetings in 2026. And even better, many of those visitors have decided to join the society as full members. We do hope that the visitors we welcomed in July do the same!
Two things appear to be working well. The website is clearly showing up where it counts, and we have seen most of the website traffic coming from search engines when people are searching for bonsai clubs and events.
We also like to think that the warm welcome and shared interest is encouraging visitors to attend repeated events and become members. After several years of flat or dwindling membership, it’s fantastic to see new energy being introduced and increasing membership. If anybody reading this is interested in joining one of our events, please check the events page for the next meeting.
The debate rages on over whether these are truly bonsai. Regardless, training them as bonsai is rewarding, and very beginner-friendly. Two members happened to bring along ports, and duly shared cuttings among other interested members, including some lovely variegated rooted cuttings by Steve Davies.
The aforementioned relocation from inside to outside of the village hall was a very refreshing move. Being right in the middle of the third heatwave of the year may have made it uncomfortable to be sitting inside a very warm room. We got to enjoy open-air bonsai with a nice breeze instead!
The hot weather also made it to the discussion topic, with members sharing updates on how their trees were doing in the heat, and a few members resolving to arrange some kind of shade netting for their collections. It is easy to assume weak trees are being hit by fungus, or have watering issues when in fact they may be sitting in a sun trap unbeknownst to the owner.
Any trees with browning tips should be moved to an area with more shade, and preferably avoiding afternoon sun.
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