John Armitage, well known in bonsai circles, will as part of the Mame/Shohin exhibition be doing a demonstration during the day with this tree. This is in the fitness room, during the Swindon ‘Winter Image’ show on Sunday the 15th February 2026. https://swindon-bonsai.co.uk/2025/11/19/new-for-the-2026-swindon-winter-image-show/ At the conclusion of the demo/workshop he will be donating this tree to the raffle.
Twickenham Bonsai Club was founded in 2019 with just a few members and has flourished to a membership of around fifty.
This is the fifth show the club has put on, a combination of both summer & winter shows. Each club member was invited to display three trees, and as more trees were put forward than the club had room for, a selection process had to take place.
It was great to see such positive engagement by all their club members, and year on year the standard of their trees continues to develop, and it was a pleasure to attend their show today.
A visitor vote for the best tree is used, also the winning trees from the previous summer show were invited back for second display (but excluded from voting this show).
The winners of the public vote were Liz with her Acer palmatum ‘Shishigashira’ in 3rd place, Mark with his Acer palmatum ‘Arakawa’ in 2nd place and Terry with his Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Boulevard’ in 1st place. Tina Todd was also presented by Tony Peter Ulatowski with the RHS medal for all her contributions to the bonsai club.
The show was a buzz with lots of visitors plus conversation and activity with club members working on their trees. Mark was building a double tier Japanese Larch forest which looked great.
The venue is ideal for a bonsai club show being spacious and well lit too. They even had a food catering truck provided by Jason Fisher this year, their own club sales and traders including Nick Payne of Springwood Ceramics, Neil Hutchings of Devon Bonsai Nursery, Vinay Rathore of Toko-en Bonsai and Stuart Beresford.
As a club they are always progressive and this year have compiled a book of their 2025 club newsletters which are very informative and it is a first which will be available to purchase from the club later this year. They also have partnered with Over Rock where you can purchase Twickenham Bonsai Club merchandise from Over Rock’s website.
Here are all the trees used in the show as well as some photos’ from the British Shohin Bonsai Co-operative and the UK Bonsai Group exhibition, talk and demo held in the fitness room at the centre on Sunday the 15th February 2026. Thanks to Andy and Mandy for the pictures. [click to enlarge the photo]……..
This year was again a fantastic year for our Swindon Winter Image show and we had a great number of visitors who all got to enjoy not only the bonsai displays but also the shopping opportunities from our traders. Traders included Gordon Duffett, Graham of Dragonfly bonsai pots, Tony Remmington, Simon of Suteki, Wallsall Studio Ceramics, John Trott of Mendip Bonsai, Windybank Bonsai, China Mist, Greenwood Bonsai Studios, Chris Thomas, Dan Butler, LV Bonsai, Zacs bonsai, Dan Baron Esoteric pots. A great day was had by all, thank you for your continued support for our show.
This year we were fortunate enough to have the pleasure of John Armitage on behalf of the British Shohin Cooperative providing a talk and demomstration on Shohin and styling a shohin Juniper. It was a resounding success with standing room only in the room while John talked and worked his magic on styling the juniper. John later donated the tree to our raffle. Everyone enjoyed seeing the mini bonsai displays which looked incredible. Thank you to Mark Moreland of UKBA and Gary Careford from the British Shohin Cooperative for putting on this display at our show.
This year we had nine visiting bonsai clubs and societies including Ashfield, Bristol, Eastleigh, Glynderi, Newbury, Splinter Group, Surrey Heath, Twickenham and Warminster. They each put on fabulous displays of their club members trees for the enjoyment of everyone and thank you for your continued support at our show.
One of the displays that was really captivating at our winter image show was a display of ancient trees within a landscape setting. It has been in the making for over 6 years by the owner who hand crafted the fences and working gate as well as developed and styled the trees. This was for anyone who loves ancient and veteran trees in nature albeit in miniature in a bonsai form. It showcases some of the traditional tree management techniques of pollarding and coppicing which have shaped the way some of our old trees look today. For more information on ancient and veteran trees visit the ancient tree forum.
Bigger and better was the billing for this year‘s Bonsai fest at Newark. With the promise of a bigger hall and even more traders, the 6:30am start from Swindon felt a little less painful. It was nice to be chauffeured again this year by Neve, on the second half of the three hour plus drive and there was plenty of time to talk repotting and discussing what was to be purchased given the chance at the show.
We arrived after the queue had died down and there were already lots of people coming out of the show with their purchases and the FOMO kicked in a little. [Fear Of Missing Out]
First port of call was the extensive sales area with a wide mix of professional growers nurseries, alongside many YouTubers and Private sellers. The central location meant there were those coming down from Scotland and across the north as well as many of the Midlands and London traders too.
There was almost too much to choose from, as club members with our profits from the Swindon sales table at the Winter Image Show…….. in hand we headed off. Pots a plenty with lots of work from the established potters and some new guys on the scene made for some difficult choices.
There was plenty of development material from the hobbyists with collected Yamadori and homegrown starter material at reasonable prices and the established traders selling some beautiful trees, plenty to suit every budget there were already a few trees heading back to the car after our initial walk round.
A fantastic demonstration by Caz Bonsai was on offer for those less inclined to look for the bargains and a new talent competition was also running with some stunning trees being produced and an opportunity to see a tree styled over a few hours.
After the money was spent it was time to look at the show trees with amazing quality on offer including trees from Corin, Caz Bonsai, Tony Tickle and Mark/Ritta Cooper. Plenty of stunning winter images and a spattering of spring colour made for a high-quality range of displays, with Mark and Ritta bagging best in show. There was an opportunity to talk with some of the exhibitors and a good discussion with Tony Tickle for some.
Taking over from The now defunct Doncaster Bonsai Experience that was held at Markham Grange, Bonsai Fest seems to have grown nicely to fill this gap. A show heavily weighted towards traders, provides an opportunity for those buyers looking increase the collection, and those hobbyist growing to sell on a good opportunity in a central location.
With a few Swindon members making the trip this year, it may be one to think about putting in your calendar for next year. Worth getting yourself a driver so you can have a little doze in the car on the way back after all the excitement
Login
