The BCD

Our first face-to-face meeting in 18 months was hosted by our new chair, Pete. It took place in a quintessential Hampshire village, where timber-framed, red-tiled houses nestle round an ancient church.

It was wonderful to talk to friends, old and new, and to be able to puzzle alongside each other at last. The final determined few had to be ejected at 6 p.m. We hope that it will be possible for even more of us to meet in future.

Eleven members offered ‘Show and Tell’ puzzles on the theme of History (two in absentia, one of whom joined us via flickr from America). As you would expect, puzzles about kings and queens and famous battles predominated, – no-one could top Nicky’s puzzle of the 1797 Battle of Camperdown, as the protagonist on the losing side was her ancestor!

There were also interesting puzzles reflecting social history, including the Thames frozen over in 1860, the maiden voyage of the Titanic, and Paris dressmakers during the Belle Époque.

The sun shone all day, and organisers made sure that there was no danger of running short of cake…

Pete Day introduced himself as only the third Chair in the BCD’s existence, and explained how Waddington’s Jig-Maps had sparked an early interest in doing and collecting puzzles.

Much of the magazine was again taken up with a lavishly illustrated account of ‘Holiday Destinations’ puzzles, from the June ‘Show and Tell’. But it also contained the welcome news that a new meeting timetable has been agreed, and that face-to-face meetings and the annual house party have been scheduled.

George explained the trials of assembling a 3-D jigsaw of the Houses of Parliament. John is interested in cataloguing Lumar puzzles, and asks for information. Nicki provided more information about the superb cutter Ada Dinn, and Jackie profiled another outstanding cutter about whom little is known, with only two known examples of his/her work. And Rosie shared the experience of being filmed for Bargain Hunt, while talking about Victory puzzles.

One of these articles was held over for a year and a half, a sign of the amount of high-quality submissions. Despite the pressure on space, though, the editor always finds room for some light-hearted fun alongside the serious puzzle research. Alan described his Wentworth ‘Tea for two’ puzzle with unexpected military whimsies, and Geert explained how his Peacock map puzzle came to be missing all the English counties. It had been in the owners’ home in Germany, and the pieces were handed in to the authorities by their housekeeper during World War Two, in response to an order to relinquish all maps of England! Anne and Kerstin shared an article from 1916 about a puzzle club in New Zealand, which contains a priceless anecdote about the value of jigsaws to over-worked servants.

The biennial American Puzzle Parley for puzzle cutters and collectors was held virtually for the first time in July 2021, and we were all invited!

The event is primarily for puzzle cutters to share information; there were talks on topics including the use of photo editing software, copyright issues and laser cutting, as well as actual demonstrations of puzzle cutting.

But there was also plenty for puzzle lovers and collectors to enjoy. BCD members Jackie, Jeanne, Michael and Pete took part in a high quality Show and Tell, organised by puzzle expert Anne Williams, and it was a treat to see cutters describe the puzzles they had made for the Pagey Elliott Puzzle Exchange. Materials and designs ranged from Janell’s incredible 10-layer wood and acrylic ‘Koi Pond with Lotus’ to Shay’s virtuosic take on ‘I knew an old lady who swallowed a fly’. You can see videos of the entire Virtual Puzzle Parley 2021 at the link below. There was even a virtual sales table.

Virtual Puzzle Parley 2021 Videos

Judging purely by the puzzles uploaded on flickr, the world’s most popular holiday destination is… Venice! But there were plenty of others, including Paris, San Francisco, Bled, Delphi, St Moritz, Ljubljana, Victoria Falls and even Arcadia. At a time when actual travel was restricted, it was a pleasure to travel by armchair to these beautiful places.

Bearing in mind our founder’s mantra that the BCD should above all be fun, we managed to hold our AGM in 25 minutes. And then it was swiftly on to the ever-popular Show and Tell, where 16 members from the UK, the USA and the Netherlands talked about puzzles on the theme ‘Holiday Destinations’.

Finally, Alan gave us a short presentation on his DaVici puzzle, ‘City of Cats’.

This issue was dedicated to our founder Tom Tyler (1939 – 2020), and contained members’ memories of his immense puzzle knowledge, kindness and naughty sense of humour. There was also an illustrated article from Jackie about the development of the cutting style of member Terry Walters, who also sadly died last year.

The central section of the magazine was taken up by a dazzling display of puzzles on the theme ‘A splash of colour’, from the March virtual meeting. But the editor also managed to squeeze in articles from Steve about patents relating to puzzles, and Geert on the modern laser cutting company DaVici, as well as Anne’s account of the 1984 auction of Linda Hannas’ puzzle collection.

To compensate for missing the house party, we arranged to puzzle together virtually over a long weekend. We kicked off in style with an illustrated talk on oriental puzzles by Anne, John and Pete, and then there was serious puzzling to be done on flickr. We applauded each others’ efforts as puzzles were completed, and offered our encouragement when progress foundered.

The work of two new (to the BCD) puzzle cutters was shown, always a cause for celebration, and Kerstin demonstrated how she replaces missing pieces. There was a lot of interest in her recent visit, with Stefanie, to the bowels of the Basel Museum, where a collection of vintage wooden puzzles is stored. They promised more details.

The theme ‘A Splash of Colour’ produced some dazzling Show and Tell presentations, and modern cardboard and wooden puzzles took starring roles this time because of their vibrant colours. The May magazine contains photos and descriptions of the puzzles shown. They can also be seen on the Gallery page of this site.

Issue 139 was dominated by accounts of the various activities that comprised last November’s Virtual Puzzling Weekend, but also included tributes to two of our members , Honorary Life President Tom Tyler and Terry Walters, aka GrandpaTJ, both of whom tragically passed away at the end of last year. Our next issue will hopefully include more members’ memories of these two lovely people who enriched so many peoples lives through their love of puzzling.

Just a few other articles crept in to the issue: Alison wrote about her love and collecting of Raphael Tuck puzzles;  Kirsten provided an account of the very unexpected origin of Swiss puzzle manufacturer, Penelope, and Nicki followed up on John’s article in the last issue with an account of how she began puzzling,  at a very early age with her family.

Another fun, informative and engaging weekend’s puzzling was enjoyed by over 40 members back in November. Extensive accounts were published in the recent Jigsaw Pieces Issue 139. Highlights of the weekend were an inspiring presentation by US master jigsaw enthusiast and collector Bob Armstrong on how he prepares selections of his puzzles for hanging to be able to hold exhibitions of them in local galleries, the varied selection of puzzles, old and new, included in our Show & Tell session and all the shared activity on our flickr group, “BCD Just Jigsaws“. See photos of all the puzzles shown in the Show & Tell session on the Gallery page and a link to our flickr site on the Related Events & Links page.

Sad news indeed. Our founder, club member No.1 and Honorary Life President, Tom Tyler, passed away peacefully, at home with all his family, shortly before New Year’s Eve.

Tom and friends founded The BCD back in 1985 and he has been engaging and entertaining members with his extensive knowledge, vast treasure of stories, wit and repartee ever since.

He was irrepressible and is irreplaceable. He will be very greatly missed by everyone who had the good fortune and pleasure of knowing him. Our love and thoughts are with his family and friends.

Issue 138 was once again packed with lovely full colour pictures of jigsaw puzzles and related epherama. Most of the first half of the magazine was taken up by accounts of the very successful second BCD virtual weekend – see following posts for summaries of this.

The second half included a variety of interesting articles, notably two from a couple of our European members in Germany and the Netherlands. Kerstin gave us an insight into the history of Lumar Puzzles – ‘made by the “King of Toys”‘, it being the trading name of Louis Marx Ltd. of London in the 1930s. Marx Toys was founded to launch a new line of Lumar-branded floor operated tin toys, trucks, vehicles and planes that were produced in the US and England from 193 until after WW2.Wout’s contribution was “Pondering Ponda Puzzle History”. Ponda, was founded in Hastings, Sussex in 1946 by James William Griffin, previously employed as puzzle maker himself. It survived, adding a second production facility in Portrush, NI, until December, 1965 when, tragically, a “fire gutted the Ponda Puzzle Works in Battle Raid, putting 60 people out of work”.

Other articles covered a wide range of puzzling-related topics including “When knobs are not knobs but hands and feet”, “The Falls Puzzles”,”Colour spectrum and Colour-Changing Jigsaw”, “Unidentified Jigsaw Puzzles”, “Search for Examples of ‘The Swan Jig-Saw’ and “An Interesting but Accidental E-Bay Purchase”!