I have been part of two different (oh so very different) bonsai clubs. One I loved and sorely miss, the other is now defunct.
The club that introduced me to bonsai (~25 years ago), had a mix of very knowledgeable, experienced, and helpful (& humble) members. Meetings would start off with a quick business meeting, and then most of the rest involved working on trees. Your own (with lots of help from other members) and watching/assisting others. Many meetings ended with a raffle of some item (or items) that a members donated. We also had regular ‘purpose’ meetings such as the annual auction/sales, workshops, and doing maintenance on a local bonsai collection. I participated in many activities from fun raising, to building a storage shed for the collection we maintained and loved every minute of it.
The other club was a couple of people with very little knowledge/experience, led (sort of) by a person who was being mentored in bonsai, but had little knowledge, virtually no talent, and did everything by rote (rule/mentor says X, you need to do X). It was disorganized and had no sense of direction or purpose. Meetings basically consisted of sitting around looking at a lot of very pre bonsai and exchanging advice (mostly bad). I tried to arrange regular ‘work days’ at a nearby (~2hrs drive) bonsai collection, but could get no support, so the idea fizzled out. I decided my time would be better spent reading, searching the internet, and actually working on trees.
Nearest club to me now is over 3hrs away.
I have since found BNut, and while it is no substitute to the first club, it has been far more productive and useful (not to mention entertaining) than the second.
As for the inevitable “why did you not make the second club better or start your own?”, the simple answer is that is not in my power. I don’t have the time, energy, or skills to do what is needed. I will work my ass off to help a club be successful, but I am not a leader or organizer, never have been, never will be.
