Club show 2013 pt3

 Wile E coyote and road runner ?

 



 You haven't seen me .....right!

 

 Tolster, Hardman (Portugal bound...lucky b*****d) & Tickle.....

... sounds like a firm of solicitors!

 

Bonsai must take its toll on the eyes-

3 people 4 sets of glasses.......

 

 Self portrait?

 

tweedle dum & ........

Club show 2013 prt2

Bry and Family  From the V-o-C-B-S.... enjoying the show

 close inspection

 

 Start them young ... my daughter and I, trying to select a tree for the public competition 

....not easy

 

 views of the show

(again....thanks to Jim for the pictures)

 

Club Show 2013

Hi Everyone

Last week-end we held our Annual Members Bonsai and Accent Plants Show at Gordales, the Award Winning Retailer of the year 2012 Garden Center here in the Wirral and by ALL accounts and the feedback we have had, it seemed to even better than the response in 2012.

It all started with the preparations on the Thursday on the 19th of September and once the vehicle arrived from storage with all the equipment on it . A little discussion was had as to what was going where and the starting crew, Doug, Dave Y., Bill D,.Steve H.,Tom, Bill G., Sean and Arthur got to grips with task in hand  and got going in assembling the benches and stands shortly later more helping hands arrived to assist in the preparation with almost the whole set-up completed before we had to call it a day on day 1

Day Two was much of the same and all was going well and around mid-day the Exhibits starting to arrive to be place into position followed by a few swops here and there to have everything perfect for the Show. Even tho I say it myself it was really looking great and ready for Showtime at the end of on Friday

Saturday the final touches,cleaning,hoovering, brushing ,polishing adding those little things that makes it all perfect for the Two day show

As always it was a quiet start but as time went on more and more of the public arrived and they were many oooooo's and aaaaaa's look at this one look at that one is it REAL, DON'T TOUCH , Daddy I want one and many more nice and wonderful comments

Around 10:30 am Mr Steve Tolley head Judge for the Event and a MASTER Of the  Bonsai Four Dimensional Art Supremo, arrived  with a Bandaged Finger ( I am sure he must get fed-up being asked what happened)which did not stop him form being his usual self when carrying out his judging duties and in TRUE TOLLSTER Fashion a man of Action he was extremely full of enthusiasm and used his Dedicated Skills and Superb Bonsai Knowledge to choose which Bonsai Tree deserved an award

As time went past With plenty of enthusiasm Steve with his trusted place cards placing them on the bench next to a Tree then walking round stopping,looking near and more than a few feet away trying to decide, he started removing a few cards making notes then another look and his decisions were made (A true master at work )

Then tension for some members and in the end we all had our minds settled when MrTolley took center stage with his results and Reminder what he said last year in 2013 after judging the show then he spoke about the members and,the society as a whole and "praised us all for outstanding achievement"

This time it was even better than last year as Mr. Tolley was more than pleased with all our efforts and we all should BE PROUD as a Society for being one of the Best Bonsai Societies in the country and will always be willing to return to support Wirral Bonsai Society if we will have him

 

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The Honours were shared this year between Dave Y, Bill G, Rod and Simon

Best Shohin      ==  No. 24 = Juniper = belonging to Rod      

Best Chuhin       ==  No. 18 =  Hinoki Cypress = belonging to Bill G

Best BroadLeaf  ==  No. 1  =  Azalea  = belonging to Rod

Best Conifer      ==  No. 16 = Juniper = belonging to  Dave Y.

 Best in Show    = =  No 16 = Juniper. = belonging to  Dave Y.

The Chairman's Award's ==  No.14 = Shohin  Black Pine = belonging to Simon

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Voted Best Tree By the Public and Awarded The Dave Mitchell Trophy

 to Steve H on behalf of Pete who could not make it

No. 2  Cryptomeria  belong to Pete

And presented By Lindsay Beautiful Daughter of Dave M.

A Special presentation was made by Steve T on behalf of Wirral Bonsai Society to Andy H who has been the in My opinion the Backbone of our Successful Sunday Workshops both at Gordales and at Portsunlight Garden Centre. Andy is moving to a Warmer climate as he task up a position at a Bonsai Nursery later in the year in Portugal and we ALL wish him every success and he will be a HARD ACT to follow.

Best Wishes from us all Andy I know I will miss you not only for your wit, honesty, Bonsai Knowledge, your sense of Humour ( where to stick the camera ) and reminding me that the Sunday Workshops are about the BONSAI TREES and not the Members ( why can't it be Both)


Over the Two days of the show we of the show we made some new friends and it was great to see some friendly  face  amongst them some Distinguished  Bonsai people, Mr M Hughes,Mr Andy Dolman from Walsall, Tony Tickle, Dave B and wife Cathy, Ken, Bryan and his Family, Bren, Lee K. Roy and a Lovely Senior Couple who were members of W-B-S in the early years in the 1990,s some of the nicest Ladies Gentlemen you will  meet

A Tremendous Exciting Bonsai and accent Plant Show and we all would like to thank the owners of the GGC Mr and Mrs Nicholson for their kind hospitality welcoming W-B-S into their Award Winning Center Retailer of the Year 2012 and also a young Ladies Karen and Becky,Jonathon and Nick for the Transport PLUS ALL MEMBERS of Staff at Gordales for making our day so successful AND A MASSIVE THANK-YOU TO YOU ALL

We hope everyone who attended our show enjoyed what they had seen and spread the word and good news about Wirral Bonsai Society and Gordale's Garden Center for we will be BACK in 2014 and if all goes well with a big and better display of Bonsai Trees and Accent plants

Just a Reminder NOT TO FORGET the Sunday workshops on the 29th of September AT  Gordale Garden Centre 

Take care look after each other and your Bonsai Trees

From ALL OF US AT W-B-S a Large Thank you to each and everyone of you who took time to visit us

Jim thelad

for more pictures please see IBC forum via link below

http://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t14323-wirral-bonsai-society-members-annual-show-results-and-complete-show-2013

 good layout and turn out

 putting 'skippy' (named because it was found in a skip) into position

 

 Steve starts his judging....

....and then leads a discussion in the merits (and possible issues) with the trees 

Wirral Bonsai Show 2012 #3

 

 

http://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t11370-wirral-bonsai-society-annual-members-show-result-2012

For a complete set off Jim's show pictures click the link above.

Iain

Wirral Bonsai Show 2012 #2

I recognise that face!

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Wirral Bonsai Show 2012 #1

Hi Everyone  

This was the week-end that we were all looking forward too since last year as it was  our Annual Members Bonsai and Accent Plants Show at Gordales the Award Winning Garden Center here in the Wirral and by ALL accounts and the feedback we have had  it  has been Fabulous, Fantastic ,Fan-dabi-dozi or even Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
It all started with the preparations on the Thursday and Friday 30th and 31st of August and Arthur and Stan were busy scrubbing and hosing the display area while The 3 Musketeers Sean, Steve and  Maker of the Display Benches and Assemble Co-ordinate  Dave Y  arrived after collecting the units from North Wales, on the Thursday Soon more members arrived during the morning and  afternoon when lots of hard works was achieved followed on Friday with dressing all the Display Benches, organizing what was going were , making sure everything was just right for the arrival of members trees later in the afternoon Once all was in pristine condition the Bonsai Trees Accents Plants and Tables were married up to compliment each other as one unit  it was time to head home before the Actual Show

The first of September was here at last and  everything that  the members worked hard to achieve was accomplished  and it look Brilliant in my opinion.
 Soon the public started to arrived and  it was great to see a Special Gentleman Mr Kevin Bailey and Moderator for the Internet Bonsai Chat Forum the IBC,  all went well with lots of ohhh's and aaaaa's look at that look at this and finally Mr Steve Tolley  head  Judge for the Event and a MASTER Of the  Bonsai Four Dimensional Art Supremo, arrived  with a huge grin and smile on his face  which was worth a gold medal in anybodies language as he was more than impressed on his first  sight of the complete Show Area

As time went past with plenty of toing and  frong  with his trusted notebook making notes and  trying to decide .

It was tension for some members and in the end we all had our minds settled  when Mr Tolley took center stage with his results and made what we could say was the best ever show that W-B-S  has delivered in the 10 years that the society has been  holding its Members only Annual Show at  this Outstanding  Venue  Gordales the Award Winning Garden Center here in the Wirral

During his selection MrTolley spoke about the members ,the society as a whole and praised us all for outstanding achievement and  pre-selected  15 various Bonsai Trees  for next years THE BEST OF BRITAIN  in May  2013.

The Honours were giving out  and went  as follows

Best Shohin    ==            Pontentilla  Owner Tony F

Best Chuhin    ==           Escallonia  Owner Ian W

Best BroadLeaf == Acer Palmatum "Inaba Shidare" Discetum  , Approx 45 years of Age

( Documented ) and known as Skippy and was Rescued from a SKIP = DUMPSTER  = GARDEN REFUSE  WASTE CONTAINER  what ever you like to call them, in 1985  and Sean D  became the Custodian of Skippy in 2011

Best Conifer  & Best in Show    ==  Owner Tony  F 

 

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Tony was head and shoulders above us all for his achievement  as Tony F collected  an almost clean sweep of Awards by being presented with  6 Awards  with Ian ,Bill G and Sean  collecting the rest So a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Tony from us all  you deserved all that came your way


Can you repeat this in 2013!!!!!  only time will tell


On the Sunday many members were at the GGC bright and early for a Sunday to make sure that the Standard was the same as on Saturday  and it was a busy time  and steady flow people coming to look at all the tees , stopping admiring ,picking thier favourite and buying raffle tickets for the wonderful selection of prizes that was available to win We had  a  great Bonsai Tree as first prize and a local couple Damien and  Patricia are now the owners of the tree whilst another couple won Bonsai group

During the day we had The Northwest Heat for the 2013 European Bonsai Association New Talent Competition  which was a nice bonus for everyone  and the final 2 contenders for this and such  GREAT GUYS , Bry from the V-o-C-B-S  and Mikey P from Leeds

Also there were 3 Distinguished Gentlemen Mr M Hughes , Most recently, he and his wife put on the first “Best of British Bonsai” event in Birmingham, which took place in April, 2009.  They are now both involved in planning the second such event, to take place in April 2011.and  more Best of British Bonsai in Future years to come more info  can be found  at

http://www.fobbsbonsai.co.uk/chair.htm

 Mr Andy Dolman from Walsall  one of the nicest gents you will ever meet and Judge of the
New Talent Competition along with our own Chairman Ian .W.

and the one and only Mr Tony Tickle who was responsible for organising  The Northwest Heat for the 2013 European Bonsai Association New Talent Competition, the competition, the  Heats and lots  lots more a task he is extremely  willing and capable of succeeding  in doing everything he turns his mind and hand to.

More info about   Mr T.T. can be found here at his Great website for all Bonsai Enthusiast  and you will not be disappointed  :  http://yamadoriforsale.com/

_________________________________________________________

The Chairman's Award's === Scots Pine === Tony F

 

===================

Chairman's Certificate of Merit To

Tony  F  ===Shohin Juniper 

Tony F  ===  Chuhin Yew

 Bill G. == Hinoki Raft Cypress

Sean D. ==  Acer Palmatum Deshojo

===========================================

Voted Best Tree By the Public and Awarded The Dave Mitchell Trophy By Lindsay Beautiful Daughter of Dave M.

Bill G. == Hinoki Raft Cypress 

============================================

Over the Two days  of the show it was exciting and a steady flow of people of all ages and  on the final day on Sunday it was down to Ian W to give  his view and expressed his gratitude to all members for sich a wonderful  performance  during the build up and the show itself but still encouraging us all to keep improving as we  MUST NOT let the standards  Drop also a Massive Thank-you to the owners of the GGC Mr and Mrs Nicholson.Johnathan ,Karen,Becky and  ALL Staff for their kind hospitality welcoming W-B-S into their Award Winning Center here in the Wirral 

We like to thank and hope Everyone who attended our show enjoyed  and liked what was on display and spread the word and good news about Wirral Bonsai Society and other Great Bonsai Societies here  in the Northwest and in North Wales and  inviting you all back to Gordale's Garden Center for we will be BACK in 2013 and if all goes well with a big and better display of Bonsai Trees and Accent plants even tho I personally  believe this years show will will take some beating  but this is what we are ALL aiming to achieve

More images of  our W-B-S Annual members show will be on  Face book 

    http://www.facebook.com/theweelad

 

Take Care and look after each other and all your Bonsai Trees

 

 Set up day 1

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 location? location! location?

-

 Never seen a skipping bonsai before!!

-

Nearly ready

Jim thelad

IBC Discussions on WBS Show

Below is a link to more of Jims photos of the show plus comments from viewers on T'internet.

http://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t7519-wirral-bonsai-members-annual-show-2011

Tai Chi with Steve Tolley

A picture paints a thousand words..........Love it!!
--

A massive personal thanks go from me to Jim for the time, effort and skill put in during the show and over the last few months, the Blog would be nothing without it.

Iain

2011 WBS Club show results 1

Chairmans Award
Deshojo

Cypress

Crab apple

Sean D's public award

-

Chairman's Award == No 5 Japanese Maple == Dave Y.


Chairman's Certificate of Merit To

Sean D. == No 3 Maple (Acer Palmatum Deshojo)

Bill G. == No 19 Hinoki Cypress

Sean D. == No 16 Crab Apple

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Voted Best Tree By the Public and Awarded The Dave Mitchell Trophy By Dave Mitchell Family

Sean D. == No 3 Maple ( Acer Palmatum Deshojo)

--------------------------------------------------------------

First Prize Raffle Winner

Raffle Prize winner were Cathy and Steven From the county of Cheshire who won First prize and collected thier Bonsai Juniper (itoi-gawa) from Christine M and Bill G along with a FULL FREE membership to W-B-S and we hope they will enjoy thier tree and continue in the Bonsai Culture and a large thank you to everyone who voted for the Public Tree selection and entered our Raffle.

2011 WBS Club show results

Best Shohin
Best Chuhin

Best Broadleaf

Best Conifer & Best in Show

-

This was the day that All Wirral Bonsai Club Members have been working hard for since this time last year 2010

All the work and tidying up by everyone was completed in time for the arrival of The 3 Wise-men of The Bonsai World and Culture (Well at least 2)

We had in our midst Mr Steve Tolley Bonsai Four Dimensional Art Supremo,

Mr Ian Stewardson (A Gentle Giant (well he is Taller than Me) who is the Proud Owner of A Bonsai Life Achievement Award of the FOBS (Federation Of British Bonsai) and

Mr David Jackson a Soft Spoken Gentleman who has a Extremely keen interest in Bonsai culture and a Senior instructor at Invoshin School of Martial arts and also gracing our event was Mr and Mrs Malcolm Hughes a former President

at the Wirral Bonsai Society Club Show (so No Pressure were on our members) and today our Guest Judge was none other than a Gentleman who has so much Talent it would take me for-ever to write about his knowledge, and still not complete everything about him, his achievements his outlook for the future of Bonsai Culture in Britain and in Europe or even World Wide plus his other interests

But you can find what this gentleman Mr Steve Tolley is all about by visiting his website and I am sure you will NOT be disappointed.

After Judging Mr Steve Tolley had nothing but the Highest praise for the Wirral Bonsai Society and he found it extremely difficult to judge because of the High Standard that has been achieved by our Club and to Crown it all we were informed as a Society that there is a Potential of 12 and maybe 3 other Trees that could be Selected for THE BEST OF BRITISH BONSAI in 2 years time Extremely high praise From Mr Steve Tolley

The Winners were

Best Shohin == no 26 Chinese Juniper Owner == Ian W.

Best Chuhin == No 2 English Yew (Taxus Baccata ) Owner == Iain Q.

Best BroadLeaf ==No 7 Escallonia Owner ==Ian W.

Best Conifer & Best in Show== No 4 Juniper (Kishu) Owner == Lee K.

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A Fabulous Show and we all would like to thank the owners of the GGC Mr and Mrs Nicholson for their kind hospitality welcoming W-B-S into their Award Winning Center and also a young lady Karen a jewel in the crown that the GGC has in their mist a young lady whose enthusiasm for not only our presence but for anyone who she comes into contact within the garden center and always has a welcoming smile for them all

I hope everyone who attended our show enjoyed what they had seen and spread the word and good news about Wirral Bonsai Society and Gordale's Garden Center for we will be BACK in 2012 and if all goes well with a big and better display of Bonsai Trees and Accent plants

Take care look after each other and your Bonsai Trees

From ALL OF US AT W-B-S a Large Thankyou to each and everyone of you who took time to visit us

Jim thelad

Club Show @ Gordale -Prep.3

last minute hoover!

decisions.... decisions!

job done.

Another Day and tension starting to creep in and deciding where the Show's Bonsai Trees are to be placed

It was a steady flow of placement of the trees with swopping positions to make sure everything was exactly where it should be along with any Accents Plants that complimented the Tree and this time it was the Chairman Ian W. who was Responsible with task of lining up, positioning and organizing the days tasks and with help from Senior Members. All went well and the countdown was about to start for the following days Judging. Many members have been in this position before but I am sure One or Two were experiencing a few pre-judging butterflies as we all did not want to let our Society down with the display presentation and Quality of W-B-S Bonsai Trees

At GGC closing time is was off for some relaxation if that was possible, as it was an early start on Saturday the 3rd day of our Event when it will all now start in earnest.


Take care and look after yourself and ALL your Bonsai Trees

Jim the lad

Club Show @ Gordale -Prep.2

I believe this to be around 6"

Stick em up

This season white socks will be 'de rigueur'
Doug does his best Doddy impression!!
(its not working for me)