Wednesday 11 March 2009

Talking about people...

If you're like me, you'd be one of those who are more interested in the trees than in the bonsai artists themselves. That said, our little bonsai club has been fortunate enough to have had many prominent speakers come through our doors in the past years.

But having a cohesive European bonsai scene is not just about the creative artists and the public as consumers, it's also about a whole load of people who give selflessly of their time and effort to promote the hobby, sometimes on top of a full-time day job.

So in this pic are a couple of Belgian 'greats', to the left is Marc Noelanders who most everyone will have heard of. To the right is René Vantilt who was Secretary of EBA for a long time and is a stalwart champion of the growth of bonsai in Europe. René's health has curtailed his appearance at recent shows, so his attendance at Lorca together with his wife Monique was good news to us all.


This pic was taken during refreshments just after the opening ceremonies, and despite appearances, we were all standing around having a good laugh and enjoying a very good Syrah from a local producer.

Not the best photo ever taken of either Marc or René (sorry guys!) but there is a time lag from the second you press the shutter on this phone's camera - it's not all operator incompetence, y'know (but it is a good part of it).

René has served European Bonsai long and faithfully; we hope to continue benefiting from his experience for many more years to come.

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