Dragon wanted to change the feel of our annual society show in 2009.
We aimmed to make the art of bonsai much more accessible to the general public. So, no showboating major demos.

     We not only had our members show trees displayed, but also a selection of trees in the early stages of traning, showing where this art starts.
The interest was huge. We hardly had a moment to ourselves, so many visitors had questions and wanted to try themselves.
We had a large selection of larch whips and bonsai wire for them to try.
Colin did a great job over the two days, helping the public first to wire and then shape a larch.
Many saw it was possible to create a basic pre-bonsai with some horticultural knowledge, a few basic techniques and some artistic input.
Most who tried, were surprised and pleased with the results. Some had a small glint in their eye of a new bonsai convert.

     The only possible difficulty arising would be, If all who said they plan to attend our Wednesday and/or Sunday workshops turn up,
     Chris will need a bigger car park.

Dragon at the Welsh Game Fair.
by Gerwyn Renyolds

   It started with a bit of really really bad news and I now truly believe the saying that ‘Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining ‘.

   It's the end of April or Early May and we are all at one of our Sunday Workshops when Chris Thomas our Secretary calls us all together, he has some news that we should all hear. I can see by the look on Chris's face that this does not look like a good news message. What we were about to be informed of was about to blow a big hole through the biggest event of the year for Dragon Bonsai. The Annual Show at Margam.

   The Local Council have informed us that due to financial constraints the Annual Show at Margam has been cancelled. You must surely be able to feel the devastation as we did. The Dragon Bonsai Society have been using this event since the time in memorial as the Annual Showpiece for our members and the local public, and now it's off. Once the devastation wore off we were then into blind panic and shock I suppose with ‘What will we do now? ‘

   It is at times like this one that you begin to see clearly what our Society means to its members and how proud and passionate a bunch they really are. Needless to say there was no work or discussion going on today with trees. What followed was amazing, the atmosphere transformed from one of despondency to one of a mixture of optimism and excitement. What everybody had turned up to enjoy today was an opportunity to work on and discuss trees. Now we were all into one massive brainstorm session on what we could do to recover from a desperate situation. It was a fascinating couple of hours and everybody seemed to forget about the bad news we had heard an hour or so ago and the whole group seemed to very excited about the prospect of finding somewhere new for our Annual Show. Our members travel to the society venue from all over South and West Wales and so we have a very wide ranging knowledge of what is going on and hence a wide list of events that we could potentially piggy back on. I will not attempt to list the many names of the potential venues, but we did all agree on a shortlist that we should target for possible inclusion into their event. The top of that list was the Welsh Game Fair which is the second largest Game Fair in the country and just happens to be less than 15 minutes from our Society home. So it was over to our Secretary Chris to get on the case and do some fact finding. In the space of a week Chris had gathered a massive amount of information and briefed us all on his findings putting us in a position to make an informed decision as whether we should attempt to be included at the Game Fair or not. From what Chris had told us it was a ‘ No Brainer ‘ It was the Show that Dragon Bonsai should be at. So over to Chris once again to make contact and explore the possibility of our inclusion into the event to be held over the 21 st and 22 nd June. ( a bit short notice we all thought !!! for them at least ) The following week Chris called us all together but this time to give us some good news. The organisers of the Welsh Game Fair were delighted to be able to accommodate us into their programme. Well the feeling of relief and excitement amongst the members was unbelievable and so the preparations began with earnest, after all it was less than three weeks to the actual event. But true to form everyone pulled together, chipped in and the preparations went superbly well. It is fair to say that everyone was excited about the new venue and looking forward to the change. There was however some nervousness as we had been so used to setting up at Margam it had almost been executed each year on automatic pilot. This year was going to be different. New Venue and all sorts of question crop up. What tables will they provide ? Will our Backdrops Fit ? Will the ground be even or sloping ? When will we get access ? etc etc etc and so the list of questions grew and so Chris found the answers and we planned for them, but there is always that nagging doubt that there may have been one question we failed to come up, and that may have been the most important one eh ?

   Well the day we were off to set up the Show came around incredibly quickly and a number of us met up at the venue and were shown to our location. We were using a Thirty feet by Thirty feet tent which was already erected so that was a good start and the ground around was flat and firm, another good sign. We were told at 10.00am that the tables we had requested from the organisers would be there within the hour, not a problem we thought, we have got all day and there are seven of us on hand. Five hours later they arrived. We filled our time with banter and I could think of a lot worse places to kill the time, as the location for the Game Fair is surrounded by wonderful scenery.

   And so the work of constructing the display area began. We were working to a plan that with a little improvisation worked remarkably well. We all got stuck in and by 6.00pm Jerry was putting the finishing touches to the displays and Leslie the finishing touches to the Tombola stall and so it was time for a little relaxation and a breath of welcome relief. The day had gone really quickly and now we were all looking forward to the next two days. Well some of us anyway as the banter started. Chris, Leslie, Martin, Owen and Colin had decided to sleep onsite and that was what the banter was about. Chris had even organised for Colin and Himself some night fishing on the river which was only 25 yards away, it was wishful thinking of us though to think there was fresh fish on the BBQ menus for us as it turned out.

   Saturday arrived, the Show opened and the Public poured in. Not only into the Showground but into our display tent and Sunday was even busier. The displays of our trees looked fantastic and generated huge amounts of interest. They also generated a massive amount of interest in Bonsai in general and in the Dragon Bonsai Society.

   It turned out to be a very intense but rewarding weekend mixed with a lot of fun and we all finished packing up with a great sense of relief and a feeling of satisfaction that the team spirit had won the day.

   There are even some members saying that this has been the best show ever ?

Every Cloud Does Have A Silver Lining.

   A big thank you and congratulations to all the members including Owen, and a very special Thank You to Leslie who has worked tirelessly over the last year to raise prizes for our Tombola. Gives up her own time to set up and man the Stall over the weekend and works relentlessly to raise funds for Dragon Bonsai, I cannot think of anyone who could do it better and always with the biggest smile you have ever seen.