Page 3 - BSAM 2016 Q4

President’s Message
As I start to write this message I have been travelling for several weeks and am now in China meeting up with most of the BCI board tomorrow.
We went to a family reunion in England and then spent several days touring in Wales with Kath and Malcolm Hughes, and then attending Lindsay's son’s wedding in Ireland, followed by a long- planned cruise.
My husband Lindsay also served on the BCI board for several years. At the start of his term BCI magazine was just a Bonsai maga- zine. When it was initially suggested that stones be included in the magazine, Lindsay very strongly opposed this move.
Fast forward 25 years. How things have changed.
Our base in Wales was a lovely spot on the Conwy River. e river was fast owing and Lindsay, who is now a passionate stone collec- tor couldn't wait to explore the river. He collected several very nice stones, one of which was very large. We got the stone back to Kath and Malcolm’s home and cleaned and culled them out. e large one was a keeper!
It wasn't possible to send the stone home by post as it exceeded the International postage limit of 20 kg. is stone and a couple of smaller ones travelled with us for the next four adventurous weeks. e large stone is the subject of a fun article by Kath Hughes which may appear in a future edition of the magazine.
Malcolm was very sceptical about the airline allowing us to travel with the stones when he dropped us at the airport on route to Ireland. No major problem, we made our 60 kg baggage allowance with 1 kg spare! I might add I le home with 15 kg of baggage. I mentioned to Lindsay at this point how opposed he was to stones back in the mid eighties!
Stone and Bonsai collecting are both addictive. I don't know any- one who has just one of either. All of you bonsai lovers who are not interested in stones, I warn you, wait until you get your rst as a gi or you nd one in the wild, and you will be hooked.
You might be interested to know that the largest room in our home is now dedicated to displaying stones and our 30-foot shed is full of daiza making machinery. Yes, things have changed. Lindsay shares one of his daiza-making techniques in this issue.
e purpose of BCI board members going to China was at the generosity of Mr. Chen Chang. e board was invited to participate in the opening of three additional BCI Bonsai Co-operation Cen- tres. In Rugau, Jiangsu; MuYang, Jiangsu; and Kunming, Yunnan. I met up with the group in Guangzhou where we participated in the opening of the 9th China National Bonsai Exhibition and the 1st BCI China Committee Exhibition. Around 800 bonsai and over 200 stones were exhibited. We feature trees and stones from this exhibi- tion along with other events in which the board participated, in this issue. e Chinese are very proactive in promoting bonsai through these Co-operation Centres, of which we now have nine. ey are also conducting workshops for kids, teaching the next generation the art of bonsai. During the opening ceremony of the exhibition we signed the contract for the BCI 2019 Convention.
BCI tours are very popular and we have two more planned in 2018. In April, BCI Director I.S. Ng is hosting 2018 Malaysia - BCI Interna- tional Friendship Tour and Exhibition, featuring Bonsai, Stones and Wood. is tour will also include sightseeing. BCI Vice President and Chair of BCI Convention Committee, Helen Su, is coordinat- ing a four- or ve-day tour in conjunction with the BCI Convention
BCI tours are very popular and we have two more planned in 2018. In April, BCI Director I.S. NG is hosting 2018 Malaysia - BCI International Friendship Tour and Exhibition, featuring Bonsai, Stones and Wood. BCI Vice President and Chair of BCI Convention Committee, Helen Su, is coordinating a four- or ve-day tour
in conjunction with the BCI Convention in Mulhouse, France in October, 2018.
in Mulhouse, France in October, 2018. We will keep you posted as information is available.
BCI Business Manager Larry Stephan represented BCI at the National Exhibition in Rochester hosted by Bill Valavanis. By all accounts this was once again a great success and we congratulate Bill and thank him for the invite. ese exhibitions are held biannually in Rochester, New York, the next one is scheduled for September, 2018 and Lindsay and I have both been invited to attend.
Our Tech Guru Bonnie Moore has been working on some changes to the Website. ese should be up and running soon.
We have launched a campaign to encourage lapsed members to rejoin BCI. ose whose membership expired in 2016 were o ered a bonus issue if they rejoin before the mail out of this issue. ey were also invited to let us know why, if they are not renewing. We hope this information will help us improve our services.
Also in this issue we are featuring the second part of an article by Tom Elias and Hiromi Nakaoji on cut stones. e rst part sure provoked some debate. Hope you enjoy the second part.
Our last event for the year is the BCI Regional Convention in Mysore, India, December 19th to 22nd. It is not too late to register and you can nd a link on the BCI website: www.bonsai-bci.com under conventions.
As we draw to the end of 2016 I would like to thank the BCI Direc- tors, Contractors, Authors and Contributors, and especially our BCI Editor Joe Grande, for their support and dedication to BCI.
We at BCI, wish you all a Happy Holiday season and a Healthy and Prosperous New Year.
Cheers from Down Under, Glenis Bebb
October/November/December 2016 | BCI | 1