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Programmes 2015-2024

 

Below are previous programmes which will give you a history of our activities

PROGRAMME 2024

January     4th Tree critique and subscription payment

February   1st Dave Penny. Saikei presentation

                     Members £4 Visitors £5

March       7th Evening workshop

March       9th Saturday workshop Free to members 10-4pm

March     23rd Saturday Corin Tomlinson workshop-Chargeable £35

April         4th  6 trees event

May          2nd NOT AVAILABLE due to venue being an Election Polling Station

                Meeting moved to 16th, the 3rd Thursday

May          16th Evening Workshop

June          1st Milton Keynes Bonsai Show with NBS participation. (Library)

June          6th  Annual club show/exhibition

July 4th  CANCELLED as hall be used as a General Election Polling Station

August       1st  Alex Rudd. Bonsai Pots & Pot selection

                     Members £4 Visitors £5

September 5th  Evening workshop

September 21st Saturday workshop Free to members 10-4pm

October     3rd  Dave Cheshire 

                     Members £4 Visitors £5

November  7th  Evening workshop

December  5th  AGM Xmas buffet

PROGRAMME 2023

January 5th          7-10     Tree critique and subscriptions for 2023

February 2nd        7-10     Show & Tell

March 2nd            7-10     Evening member’s workshop

March 4th           10-4 Saturday Member’s workshop, free to members

March 4th                   Saturday NBS exhibiting at Cherry Lane Garden CentrePodington

March 18th         10-4 Saturday Corin Tomlinson 1-2-1 Workshop.

                                       Limited to 10 people, approximate cost £40 each

April 6th              7-10      Workshop including Exhibition Preparation

May 4th               7-10      NOTE: Change of venue BACK TO NORMAL at WFPH

                                        Simon Roberts talk - Japanese Bonsai shows

May 13th & 14th  10-4  Sat/Sun Greenwood Bonsai Bash, Nottingham

June 1st              7-10      NBS Annual Show in Weston Favell Village Hall

June 3rd                     Saturday NBS exhibiting at Milton Keynes Library

July 2nd               1-5  Sunday NBS exhibiting in church hall at Weston Favell Open Garden

July 6th               7-10     Evening member’s workshop

August 3rd           7-10     Members to bring Bonsai related items for display 

                                       and discussion. (favourite pot, suiseki etc.)

September 7th     7-10      Evening member’s workshop

September 23rd 10-4 Saturday Member’s workshop, free to members

October 5th         7-10      Mark & Ming Moreland joint guest speakers

                                       Members £4 visitors £5

November 2nd     7-10      Evening member’s workshop

                                       PLUS   Presidents Problem – Bring your problem tree and Jim

                                       will work on it... un-challenged

December  7th    7-10      AGM and social evening with December raffle draw

                                      and the usual member table trees

PROGRAMME 2022

January 6th           7-10          Subscriptions and Tree Critique so please bring along trees for comments and advice

February 3rd          7-10          Jim Amos talk. My 40 years of Bonsai

March 3rd              7-10          Member’s workshop

March 19th Saturday 10-4     Member’s workshop 

March 26th Saturday 10-4      Corin Tomlinson 1-2-1 Workshop. Limited to 10 people at Approx £30 per person          

April 7th                7-10          Guest speaker Corin Tomlinson Deciduous Tree Refinement

                                             Members £4  non members £5

May 5th                 7-10          NBS show at WFPH 7-10. Bring along 1 or 2 trees to exhibit

May 8th Sunday    10-4          Expo Bonsai K2 Crawley

June 2nd                7-10          Member’s workshop

July 7th                  7-10          Guest speaker Mark Moreland

                                             Members £4  non members £5

August 4th             7-10          Steve Brown talk

September 1st        7-10          Member’s workshop

September 11th Sunday 10-4  Heathrow Bonsai Show Bracknell Leisure centre

September 17th & 18th  10-4  Greenwood Bonsai Bash FREE with Corin Tomlinson in Nottingham

September 24th Saturday 10-4  Free member’s workshop 

October 6th            7-10          Guest speaker David Cheshire

                                             Members £4  non members £5

November 3rd        7-10          Bonsai and related items bring and buy sale/exchange

                                             PLUS 

                                             Presidents Problem – Bring your problem tree and Jim will work on it – un-challenged  

December 1st         7-10          AGM and Social evening with December raffle and alternative date for NBS show

 
2021 - During COVID restrictions... 

Until we resumed normal meetings, each month we watched a video (in our own time)

followed by meeting via Zoom video conference on the dates below at 7pm to discuss it.

Details of how to join the Zoom meeting will be e-mailed to each Northamptonshire Bonsai Society member

January 7th           7pm Zoom meeting (login details sent to members) to discuss the following videos

The first short video is by Heike van Gunst, a lady I have to admit I had not heard of before I saw this video. Nevertheless she has an undoubted talent and an internationally recognised track record for excellence in creating bonsai.

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaVVqNecf2g&feature=share

                       

For those of you who might not be quite so interested in decisions surrounding pot choice, perhaps this second video would be more to your liking. This is another well respected bonsai grower who some of you will no doubt know of by the name of Walter Pall. In this 8 minute video Walter talks about the correct way to develop thicker trunks in your bonsai, and a little of the science and reasoning behind his success.

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Cpc-ivdCXU&feature=share

February 4th         7pm Zoom meeting (login details sent to members) to discuss the following videos

The first video is Tony Tickle with some advice on the most basic technique used to develop bonsai, called Clip and Grow. Although a basic technique that many of you will be familiar with, some bonsai ‘artists’ make this seem very complicated. Tony simplifies this method into a 5 minute video using (mostly) commonly available material.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWIkRr2U-4s

The second video is a little more involved with Graham Potter showing how to develop Junipers, a species that many find difficult. This video runs for 9 minutes and gives a good insight into how to get started with very raw Junipers.

Graham Potter of Kaizen Bonsai talking about developing bonsai from basic material

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mGo7ORpiHY

The third video is another 9 minute film by Graham but this time looking at developing deciduous material salvaged from a garden. So if you have a shrub or small tree in your garden and are wondering how to create a bonsai from it, this will give you a good start. ​Graham Potter again offering something for nothing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72-glgsc0HA

​​

March 4th             7pm  Zoom meeting (login details sent to members) to discuss the following videos

This month, and with an eye on repotting and pruning, I have chosen three videos, two of which are from Corin Tomlinson.

 

The first showing how to create a pre-bonsai quickly from garden centre material with some fairly significant pruning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC_9IxAIDQ4 8 minutes 

 

The second video from Corin shows spring pruning and repotting of a very nice Japanese Maple, perhaps the opposite end of the spectrum from the first video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e5qlGHPxcU 20 minutes

The third video features a Japanese grower illustrating some more advance heavy pruning and grafting of roots on a Japanese Maple.

Rebuild roots,not branches or trunks 9 minutes

​​

April 1st             7pm  Zoom meeting (login details sent to members) to discuss the following videos

 

The first video is by Bjorn Bjorholm who speaks about the tasks and techniques used throughout the growing season on Deciduous and Broadleaf Evergreen bonsai. As some of you will know Bjorn is an apprentice trained American bonsai artist. I mention this because Bjorn does recommend the use of certain products which are not generally available in the UK, particularly chemical treatments such as the banned pesticide Imidacloprid, and anti-fungal treatment ‘Infuse’. He also makes reference to certain types of fertiliser which may be hard to find here, but the actual products used are less important than the reason for their use. Suitable alternatives are usually available though. As always it’s the techniques and timings which are most relevant in this video, always allowing for the slight climatic and seasonal differences between here and Tennessee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGw-CeuSdNA

 

The second video requires much less of an introduction thank goodness. It’s Corin Tomlinson constructing a large Japanese Maple forest from nursery stock!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwL6OqRlB5cHi&fbclid=IwAR3eoKG67t2pOC7Oa7XTT-fakQoxAjytgAkuqleRj03uC5g3sLBuloBM4N8

Richard will give an overview presentation of Bonsai Album he uses to record his bonsai.

It works on Windows PC, Apple Mac, iPad and iPhone

​​​​​​bonsai-album-for-pc

bonsai-album-for-mac

bonsaialbum for iOS

May 6th             7pm  Zoom meeting (login details sent to members) to discuss the following video 

 

A 10 minute video from Corin at Greenwood Bonsai with a short demo on Larch pruning. He’s working on Japanese Larch but the same process translates across to European Larch just as well. The timing might appear to be a bit ‘off’ as he’s doing this back in March, but with the cold weather we’ve had in the past month causing slower spring growth I think you might still be ok to do this work if your Larch is in need of a trim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24b0QnuzEX0

As an extra treat here’s another video I thought you might like to watch Graham Potter demonstrating his air layering technique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CREGA3jxGJE

 

On the zoom stream on the 6th May we’re going to be talking about what work you might have done to your trees during the past month or so and what you might be looking at doing in the next few weeks. We’ll also look at how trees have responded to the recent unseasonably cold and dreary weather, and what pests and diseases you should be on the lookout for now that your trees are starting to grow stronger. 

This may be of interest. It’s a range of natural products, recommended to me by a trade contact, that will combat a wide range of pests and diseases for all garden plants, but are very useful to protect bonsai.

https://www.greengardener.co.uk/shop/sale-page/

June 3rd               7pm  Zoom meeting (login details sent to members) to discuss the following video

I thought we’d keep the video recommendation simple this time with some basic pruning demonstrations by Blue Sky Bonsai. This eleven minute video has been recommended to me by a fellow club member so have a look and see how it might apply to your trees. Here is the link: Bonsai tree pruning | Deciding which branches to prune - YouTube

June 5th               2pm  Informal Garden meeting 

Our first face to face meeting, socially distanced outside in the sunshine. It was an informal meeting in a member's garden where we brought along a tree with some members working on their tree. It was good to be able to chat and keep up with the news. CLICK to see photos

July 1st                7pm Zoom meeting (login details sent to members) to discuss the following video

A video from Corin Tomlinson for you to watch. In this video he’s working on a couple of large rare maples of a variety not commonly available, known as Kotohime. He’s showing a few different methods to take air layers from these trees. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIcY40TUvGY

August 5th                7pm Zoom meeting (login details sent to members) to discuss the following video

Two videos for you, both by Corin Tomlinson and both about the same tree. This is an unusually large Hinoki Cypress, and the two videos cover the initial styling of this tree. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqAso1tIaWs&list=PLTOZcgaczif7i-1UdfjwTthT9i25N_zIY&index=4&t=10s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q0ZwLX7vpw&list=PLTOZcgaczif7i-1UdfjwTthT9i25N_zIY&index=3

2021 "Back to Normal" Meetings

                           

August 7th Saturday 2-5pm Wollaston Village Hall

Our guest speaker for the afternoon is local bonsai expert Steve McKee. Steve has exhibited at all of the highest level shows in Europe and is a well respected hobbyist in the bonsai community.

Wollaston Village hall is located in Wollaston High Street, NN29 7QE

As we have a guest speaker the meeting will be open to our friends from Milton Keynes and Bedford bonsai clubs. For non-members it is customary to pay a small fee on the door and we would ask £5 to offset our costs for visitors from other clubs. Please feel free to bring a tree to show and discuss.

 

Northamptonshire Bonsai Society has resumed regular monthly meetings at the Weston Favell Village Hall (unless otherwise stated) commencing on Thursday 2nd September at 7pm. We welcome back as many of our members as are able to attend, and new and prospective members are also very welcome to join us.

September 2nd     7-10  General Workshop

 

October 7th          7-10  Guest speaker Harry Harrington - Talk and Demonstration

Part of Harry’s talk will be a gentle critique of table trees and so we invite you to bring a tree for display.
 

Harry Harrington will be on BBC2 Gardeners World Special from 20.30 GMT Friday 8th October


Members who did not pay subscriptions for 2020 will pay a £2 fee for each meeting left during 2021. An additional £3 will be charged for guest speakers for everyone at October’s meeting.

Non-Member guests £5 but must pre book by contacting us beforehand.

                               

November 4th      7-10  General Workshop

 

December 2nd      7-10  AGM and Social evening with December raffle and ‘Best Christmas Bonsai’

 

January 6th 2022 7-10  Subscriptions

 

Unless otherwise stated the meetings will be held on the first Thursday of the month in the Weston Favell Parish Hall starting at 19:00 hrs

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PROGRAMME 2020

Unless otherwise stated, meetings are held on the first Thursday of the month at 19:00 until 22.00

January 2nd     7-10pm Subscriptions. Review trees for development in 2020 and take photographs

February 6th    7-10pm  Members’ Workshop

March 5th        7-10pm Members’ Workshop. Review the ‘2020’ trees

Due to Covid-19 all further meetings suspended until further notice

March 14th       Sat. 10-4pm  Members’ Workshop

March 21st       Sat. 10-4pm  Corin Tomlinson Workshop

 

April 2nd          7-10pm David Cheshire demonstration

May 7th           7-10pm Garden Party hosted by Steve and Hilary Brown

                                   

June 4th          7-10pm Preview trees for Annual Exhibition

June 20th        Sat 10-4 NBS Annual Show (Venue TBA)

June 21st        Sun 10-4 NBS Annual Show (Venue TBA)

July 2nd           7-10pm Members’ Workshop

August 6th       7-10pm Steve McKee demonstration

 

September 3rd 7-10pm Members’ Workshop. Review the ‘2020’ trees

 

October 1st      7-10pm Harry Harrington demonstration

October 17th     Sat. 10-4 Members’ Workshop

November 5th  7-10pm Members’ Workshop. Review the ‘2020’ trees

December 3rd  7-10pm AGM and Social evening with December raffle and ‘Best Christmas Bonsai’

 

January 7th 2021 7-10pm Subscriptions

 

Unless otherwise stated the meetings will be held on the first Thursday of the month in the Weston Favell Parish Hall starting at 19:00 hrs

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