Eric Poingdestre
I retired from Cardiff Ship Management April 1990 and then did some consultancy work for another year before completely retiring.
We keep ourselves busy with always plenty to do. Kaoru likes to go on holidays abroad, and I
like my car so we do enjoy ourselves.
I have been keeping koi carp since 1976 and built a large pond when we moved to this house in 1978. I was a keen member of the British KoiKeepers Society and formed the South Wales Section in 1982.
In June 2007 Kaoru and I decided that looking after the fish, bonsai, and garden was becoming a bit too much now we were getting older. When on holiday we also had to rely on neighbours to look after things and they are getting older as well. I had helped a neighbour just across the road to design a 6,000 gallon state of the art pond the year before and we gave all the fish to them. I look after them now when they are on holiday and we can visit them any time.
I was very much involved with bonsai and this is a hobby that takes up a lot of time especially at certain times of the year. I have sold off most of the large trees in 2012/3. They went to experienced bonsai people and two of them were shown at the Chelsea Flower Show this year.
I have a website for our group and it is updated every other Friday morning. It can be seen at http://www.artisticbonsaicircle.co.uk/ Updated December 2013..