Wessex Bonsai

11/05/2026

A Satirical Short Story..

We have recently been contacted by the son of an ex member, Beryl Devene, who is sadly no longer with us having passed away in Jan 2020. I did not personally know Beryl, but she was heavily involved in the club for many years, and I am sure there will be many following us who will still remember her. I was also passed this satirical short story she wrote, that is well worth thinking about before your next club meeting! I hope you enjoy it as much a I did.. David

10/05/2026

A great little excursion today to Mac Pennys Nursery in Bransgore. A traditional family run nursery with a great selection of trees and many great finds to be had. I look forward to seeing these progress into Bonsai in the coming months/years. All topped off with a visit to the cafe, Robins Nest, and a walk through the mature gardens.

24/02/2026

23/02/2026

Super busy workshop on Sunday, I have no idea where the time went. This was topped off by getting our Dan Butler (Woodandclay) workshop pots back. We were blown away with these. Can’t believe how well they came out with the glazes added. Many thanks Dan, we will definitely be doing this again!

Also had a really successful pot sale, and Sean brought in a truck load of Acer branches to get us kicked off with our cutting propagation, following Mark Moreland’s (UK Bonsai Association) really interesting talk at out January meeting.

We also managed to squeeze in a brief (delayed) AGM, with pleantly of plans/ideas raised for the rest of the year.

22/01/2026

Diary Dates 2026:
Sunday Workshop 09:00 to 13:00
25th January (Talk by Mark Moreland: Propagating and Miniature Trees)
22nd February
29th March
26th April
31st May
28th June
19th July (please note NOT last Sunday of month)
30th August
27th September
25th October
23rd November
No meeting at end of December.

http://wessexbonsai.co.uk/diary-dates/

17/01/2026

Italo Volgano, 1938 to 2025

It is with the great sadness that we bring you news that Italo passed away on December 28th at the age of 87. He was born in St Gimignano in Italy. Having fallen off a roof as a young man, he was awarded a disability and subsequently came to England where he trained as a hairdresser. He and his wife, Mirella, settled in Dorset where they ran their own hairdressing salon business near Poole for about 40 years.

It was perhaps natural that he would take to the art of bonsai, which he referred to as ‘snip and cut’. Bonsai came into his life one Christmas in the early 1980s in the form of a gift which promptly died. Determined to do better, he joined the Wessex Bonsai Club and very quickly gained recognition as a bonsai artist. Italo specialised in techniques involved in Tanuki (also referred to as phoenix bonsai or wrap-around). He collected and styled a notable collection of his own. In addition to bonsai, Italo had a collection of Suiseki. Italo made arrangements for all of these to be sold prior to his death.

For many years, Italo entertained Wessex Bonsai and many other clubs in the South of England with his expert demonstrations. Perhaps most memorable were the double acts he put on with his Spanish friend, Manual Gonzalez (another notable bonsai artist). Together they shared delightful banter whilst styling trees during club meetings, referring to their audience as ‘bloody foreigners’. In addition to his own talks and demonstrations, Italo was often called upon to translate for Italian demonstrators at national and international bonsai shows.

Italo will be much missed by his many bonsai friends. His family requested privacy with respect to his funeral, though donations to Parkinson’s UK will be appreciate.

24/10/2025

A nice bit of autumn colour at this months workshop.

06/10/2025

It’s been a little while, but it’s great to be showing trees again at the Heathrow Show. For many in the group it’s the first time we have shown any of our trees and it’s something we definitely want to continue going forward. Many thanks to UK Bonsai Association, for all the hard effort making this such a great and fun event!

14/09/2025

Great day with Dan Bulter Woodandclay pot making. I’m sure this will be something that we will want to repeat in the future. Really interesting to see the range of ideas and pots made by the group, and can’t wait to see the finished glazed and fired articles. In the meantime a few pics of some of the pots in development..

Thanks again Dan, was awesome day..

28/07/2025

So, I failed miserably to take any photos at Sundays workshop this month. It was super busy and before I knew it, it was time to pack up. Several new people coming to see what we’re up to and going way with membership forms, some ideas to work on, and I hope a new found hobby (addiction 🤔)

A couple of weeks ago, Mike kindly hosted a club sale, so a few pics below from that instead, both before the carnage and at the end of the morning! As Tony, one our new members quoted afterward, ‘thank you all for my first lesson in bonsai, if you see it, and like it, pick it up and hug it, don’t put it down and don’t think about tuning your back away for a second’ Tony did still manage to leave with the start of his bonsai collection. A fantastic morning was had by all, thanks again to Mike and Jan’s hospitality & cakes!