Collection of Scotland
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National
Bonsai Collection of Scotland |
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In or around 1957, when master butcher, Bill Graham of Maybole in the Robert Burns country of Ayrshire retired, he faced the problem of how to occupy his very active mind. Always a "lad-o'-pairts", he turned his attention to a subject which had always fascinated him - the ancient Eastern Art of Bonsai. Books and advice at the time were in very short supply. Possibly an early Masters' Book of Bonsai compiled by the directors of the Japanese Bonsai Association was one source. One is tempted to speculate that he came, through his researches, to know of Alan Roger and Ruth Stafford-Jones and other members of Bonsai Kai, who were undoubtedly practising then in an offshoot of the Japanese Society of London.
When Bill died in 1983, the problem of what to do with his remarkable collection reared its head, since clearly, its care and maintenance posed a major dilemma. Initially his widow Netta, put the trees into the hands of the Local Authority Parks Department of Kyle and Carrick so that some them at least, could continue to be displayed at their Annual Ayr Flower Show- itself one of the largest horticultural shows in Scotland. In a busy department however, this was not practicable, given the number of trees and the fact that bonsai expertise was not widespread. Eventually, Patrick Gibb, then principal organiser of the Show, handed over the "Graham Trees" as they came to be known, in November 1984 to the Scottish Bonsai Association. This far-seeing organisation, initially led by Craig Coussins had, earlier in the year, formed a small committee to set up the first ever National Collection of Bonsai in Britain. Mrs Graham then formally and legally gifted the trees to the Scottish Bonsai Association. Craig Coussins then invited international Bonsai master, Peter Adams to view the trees and to offer advice on their development into the 21st Century. It was recognised however, that a significant number of the surviving trees would not respond well to being "re-conquered". Added to this, a number of trees badly needed re-potting to attempt their rescue. Many did not survive this process. Most were put into a cool greenhouse to protect them from winter conditions until March 1985. Others were allocated to SBA members in the Ayrshire area for care and maintenance. A full set of 86 photographs was taken in November 1984 as a matter of record. Unfortunately this was not kept up-to-date until in1995 new trustees, appointed by the SBA began a fresh photographic record of approximately 36 trees surviving in Ayrshire plus a few in the National Collection site itself. The practice of allocating trees to the care of experienced SBA members continues and has been extended well beyond Ayrshire Over the two years following the acquisition of the trees, contact was made by Secretary Jimmy Russell with Alan Roger (of Bonsai Kai and by now a member of the SBA) who had also become a Vice Chairman of the National Trust for Scotland. With help from others like Eric Robson and Michael Innes within the National Trust and Sandy Forbes of both the SBA and the National Trust, a site for permanent home for the National Bonsai Collection of Scotland was found in the gardens of Malleny House, Balerno on the outskirts of Edinburgh. A 1986 lease from the National Trust for Scotland gives licence to the SBA to occupy "two areas of ground" at Malleny Gardens, namely the Principal Greenhouse and the area now occupied by the Bonsai shelter. The organisation also legally became at this time a Registered Charity as a Charitable Trust.
During 1986 after Craig Coussin's departure, Dr Brian Alps became the new Chairman of the Trustees. By great tact, patience and strategy he steered them towards the completion of the project so that by the end of 1986, the open air conservatory(" The Cage" as it came to be called) was built, largely by another SBA member, Hector Riddell, through generous support from the rest of the SBA, in time for a formal opening on 24th May 1987. Even before this however, the quality of the trees in the Collection had been recognised in that the National Collection stand, mounted at the annual Ingliston Royal Highland Show in 1986, was awarded a Large Gold Medal... a great boost to the project. Needless to say, not everything that was planned went smoothly. There was an insufficient head of water to make an efficient watering system and at one point even what was there broke down and needed repair. Security measures were difficult to execute but with the help of Committee members, Hector Riddell, Ian Baillie, Miller Anderson, Jimmy Russell and Jim McCurrach, most problems were overcome - at least on an ad hoc basis. A further year of intensive care for the Graham trees was needed before they could truly form the nucleus of a fully public display. Accordingly early in 1988 a plea went out to the members of the SBA to add trees on loan for display. None other than Alan Roger himself sent a reputed 200 year old Chamaecyparis Obtusa nana in an equally venerable pot to grace the occasion of the formal opening on 12th May 1988. The sun shone, the speeches were highly complimentary to the Collection and Provost Eleanor McLaughlan of Edinburgh cut the appropriate raffia strand to declare the Collection well and truly open to the public of Scotland and the world.
Progress under the direction of a new board of Trustees charged with the re-vitalisation of the Collection since 1995 has been relatively slow, dependent as it was on charitable gifts and voluntary work but with a re-constitution of the Board in January 2000, activity heightened and real progress was begun. All benches have been strengthened and new, lighter coloured gravel has been laid. Much more needs to be achieved including the lightening of the background to the trees. Success in the application for a generous National Lottery Grant will mean a further boost. The Collection has grown modestly from the early days, for example by the donation of a Juniper squamata meyeri from the Stirling Area Group and the bequest of a number of smaller trees from a prominent Edinburgh Group member, David Williams. Alan Roger himself died in 1997, well into his eighties and his trees have become the property of the SBA. Many were stretched beyond Bonsai dimensions and styles but were gratefully received as working stock for members. A small selection of his more interesting trees, including examples of the Chamaecyparis mentioned above and a huge Japanese White Pine have gone into the National Collection Care for revival, refining/restyling and display. Others will follow in due course. The purpose of the Collection is still to promote interest and involvement in the Art & Craft of Bonsai through well-presented displays of various species of trees, principally, though not exclusively, indigenous to Scotland. Thus the Collection features pines, beeches, larches, oaks and other species peculiar to the fields, hedgerows, mountains, glens, loch- and sea-shores of Scotland. These are interspersed with a few of the more exotic varieties and the handsome gift of a Persimmon from Xi'an, Edinburgh's twin city in the People's Republic of China. In order to achieve these objectives
fully, a considerable amount of on-going work has to be done... all of it by
dedicated volunteers. This is true both in the case of site care and tree
maintenance and to that end a small Collection Carers Group was formed. In
July 2000, the Trustees successfully applied for a Local Projects Small
Lottery grant to help educate the public, acquire new trees and pots and to
enable them to renew the superstructure and benches of the Cage
which is in process of being removed from Malleny Gardens to the SUNTRAP
GARDENS.
This modest little collection, reflecting
Scotland's varied landscape environments, has come about through the past
generous hearts of people like Bill Graham, Brian Alps, Craig Coussins,
Jimmy Russell, Ian Baillie, Hector Riddell and Alan Roger. The trustees
acknowledge gratefully the former services of Head
Gardener, Phil Deacon and the on-the-spot care and maintenance by Geoff
Morton. The trustees have now formed a very happy
relationship with John Smith who supervises SUNTRAP. The present
Trustees along with the Carers Group
who, under the direction of the Trustees, maintain the
Collection's trees are dedicated to the
continued development and improvement of the Collection.
Trees left by bequest or gift to the Collection are not automatically accepted for inclusion. Instead, at the discretion of the Trustees, such trees may be accepted, passed on to others within the Association for development or sold to further the development of the Collection. The same discretion applies to gifts or bequests of pots.
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Copyright © 2002 Scottish Bonsai Association
Last updated 29-11-2007
Gradually
over nearly thirty years, he developed his knowledge and collection of a
staggering 300 trees, often from first principles and often using
essentially native species. Frequent visitors to his unique collection
included other amateurs and many students from the West of Scotland College
of Agriculture.
Ian Baillie,
SBA
member and extremely talented young potter and Art teacher, with a keen eye
for the Art and Craft of Bonsai, created a design for the enclosure at the
Bonsai Shelter for the Graham trees as the nucleus of the Collection. This
was readily accepted by the National Trust on the understanding that the
outline would be softened to blend with the House and gardens at Malleny.
Since that day, every year, there has been
a display of some of the trees of the National Collection on the first
Sunday in May which has attracted many visitors to the site. It usually
takes place after a flurry of feverish activity by the Trustees and Carers
in re-potting, cleaning, weeding, refreshing paintwork and bench surfaces as
well as the trees and the gravel underfoot. Additional trees from
SBA members are still invited to broaden the
scope and appeal of the Collection. Members' natural modesty however results
in fewer trees than might be expected being offered. A recent report by the
National Trust for Scotland acknowledges that more could be done to
publicise the Gardens and Collection and reflects their keenness on
improvements to signage and removal of overhanging foliage.