We liked being sent to Coventry so much that we went back again this year. This is our major puzzling event, and it was great to welcome members from Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden and the USA as well as UK members, some attending for the first time. We hope you’re all hooked on the house party now!
The theme for the Show and Tell was ‘The Living World’, and the BIG puzzlers chose the perfect puzzle. Not only did they complete the 3,000 piece puzzle in a single day, but they are boastfully promising to bring a 4,000 piece puzzle next year, and still complete it within a day.
There were two laser cutters present, Puzzly and Puzzling Beats. Katherine of Puzzling Beats gave us an interesting talk on how she designs and cuts her tricky little tray puzzles. And Puzzly kindly sponsored our speed puzzling competition, in which 15 people battled to complete identical puzzles with no guide picture to help them. Meanwhile hand cutter Heather of Puzzlewood had the one puzzle she had brought with her to finish off snatched from her hands by an eager buyer.
David S’s illustrated talk on ‘Anything but square’ focussed on his fabulous collection of Holtzapffel Figure-It-Out puzzles, but included plenty of other vintage and modern examples.
Puzzles of every kind were being completed in our spacious conference room, helped along by enough cake, biscuits and chocolate to feed the whole of Coventry. When the sales tables opened, there were so many puzzles to choose from that even the greediest collectors were satisfied (or had run out of money).
Possibly the world’s quickest AGM was completed in 16 minutes, and included our thanks to Sally, stepping down after 20 years’ service. Katherine took her place, and Emma became our new Secretary, leaving Julia with only one job to do as Events Organiser, with events booked well into 2026. Then we could get on with celebrating our Chair’s 70th birthday. Thanks, as always, to Alan, who does the hard work of organising the event as well as being our Membership Secretary and Treasurer!
Next year, in our 40th anniversary year, we are promised a new and larger venue in order to be able to accommodate even more members and their families and friends. Watch this space!