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North Wales is the furthest north our club has ever reached – we have more members in the south of England than elsewhere. So we had fewer attendees than usual, but northerners were glad of a more accessible venue for once, and we were pleased to see a few stalwarts from the deep south! The amount of cake per attendee was astonishing… The theme, appropriately, was ‘Seaside’. There were many colourful and nostalgic puzzles on display, celebrating traditional British seaside holidays, including this framed King puzzle [left] brought by John and Christine. Meanwhile, Katherine of Puzzling Beats had designed three laser-cut puzzles especially for the meeting, with more tropical locations in mind. Her 3-D puzzle [below] proved quite tricky to assemble, and was greatly admired. Our host, Heather Prydderch of Puzzlewood, also brought several of her tricky hand-cut puzzles for us to try. We really enjoyed our day at the seaside!

The  theme was Simply Red – a celebration of our annual house party, of the BCD’s 40th anniversary, and of BCD hand cutters, past, present and future! The cover puzzle was designed for the occasion by Puzzly and Maria Herold, and the speed competition puzzles, also very red, were kindly donated by Gorgeous Games. Talking of donations, the club received a beautiful hand-cut puzzle from the AGPI (The Association for Games and Puzzles International), designed by David Beffa-Negrini, and celebrating the strong links between our two associations. We heard from some of our founder members, and there were write-ups of the talks by our keynote speaker Anne Williams, our former Chair, David Shearer, and current Chair Pete Day. The magazine contains stunning photos and descriptions of puzzles by all 33 BCD hand cutters. The virtual meeting in January, with the theme Pets, and Maria’s engaging talk about her growing map collection, was also recorded. The magazine needed to be almost double its usual size in order to have room for other items, including the announcement of Henrik’s Victory Gold online database, and Nikki’s ‘curious story of the first puzzle club in England and Aldon jigsaw puzzles’. There were also write-ups of two major events – Puzzle Jam Global and the UK Speed Puzzle Championships in Bradford. And last, but definitely not least, in an issue focussing on hand-cut wooden puzzles,  enthusiasts of cardboard puzzles made their voices heard…

Our virtual meeting began on flickr, as people posted photos of the puzzles they were going to do over the weekend. The overall theme was ‘Pets’. Here’s a beautiful example, from Steffi, of an Sr B puzzle which wasn’t shown during Show and Tell.  There are many more examples on the BCD Just Jigsaws flickr group. Unsurprisingly, the Show and Tell puzzles were mainly cats and dogs, but there were also sheep, a tortoise and a cheetah! Perhaps the most unusual puzzle was Deb’s of a convict dog, Pep, supposedly sentenced to life imprisonment for killing the cat of the warden of Eastern State Penitentiary Prison. Maria began our informal Sunday chat with an enthralling illustrated talk about how she began her enormous collection of maps, how she defined her collecting area (pre World War Two maps) and the extent of the collection today. We then discussed the finer details of puzzle collections, from choosing a ‘niche’ area as Maria has done, to moving from collecting everything available at the beginning to going for quality as we gain more experience (and cash). Some of us have been more successful than others in slimming down collections… Members will find the recordings of Maria’s talk and the Show and Tell on the BCD members’ website.

  A royal barge sailing down the Thames past Windsor seemed a fitting cover for the start of our 40th anniversary year. The theme of the January meeting was ‘Celebration’. A wide range of celebrations was shown, including weddings, Armistice, a new pet, the launch of a ship, Christmas and a very rare British footballing victory. Per-Martin told us engaging stories about a small Swedish jigsaw producer, OvB. Jackie and Bill finished their articles about, respectively, the early plywood years at Wentworth and a regular puzzle blog from Canada. The Editor talked to French hand-cutter Genest about developments in his cutting style, while Pete gave tips on storing puzzles fully assembled, ready for display. Patrice shared a beautiful old portrait of a woman with a book, and our crossword compiler Peter was given his marching orders to make his puzzles easier in future. The Spectator referenced the BCD in an article about the rise of the jigsaw puzzle as a fashion accessory. And Emma told us why she, as neither a child nor a pensioner, loved puzzling. All this and lots more in this issue!  

The best house party ever, according to some, and certainly the biggest, with over 100 participants from the UK, USA, Germany, France, the Netherlands and  Sweden.

We were welcomed by colourful red and yellow balloon displays, celebrating our 40^th anniversary year in BCD colours. After a day of quiet (ish) puzzling, we made our way to the restaurant, where we found  little gift bags containing special anniversary puzzles designed by Maria Herold and Puzzly. 

The next day was very busy, with a speedy AGM followed by a fascinating talk about US Depression era puzzles by world expert Anne D Williams. There was the usual scrum at the sales tables, where in addition to British vintage and modern puzzles, there were many hand-cut puzzles by American and European members. Show and Tell was based on a stunning exhibition of puzzles by 33 past and present BCD cutters. Ten pairs competed in the speed puzzling competition, using puzzles donated by Gorgeous Games. At dinner, two hand-made quilts by Julia Nenova were raffled in aid of the BCD and the Alzheimer’s Society.

By Sunday, even those who had arrived knowing no-one were old friends. After a talk by former chair David Shearer about links between British puzzle brands, UK members took some of our international guests out to local tourist venues. Last but not least was an overview of 40 years of the BCD, opened by Matthew Plumridge, at whose 22nd birthday party the idea for the club was born, and followed up by chair Pete Day, with frequent fond interruptions from all present. Restaurant staff found a few extra bottles of champagne for our final group meal, and we dispersed in all directions with heavy puzzle-filled suitcases but light hearts. One attendee had written on the feedback form, ‘This event is the highlight of my year and I look forward to it all year.’

Hope to see you all next year!

Our 40th Anniversary year started as we mean to go on – with a celebration! The virtual weekend began with two talks on Zoom. Jackie expanded on her magazine article about Puzzles that Move, showing 100 very varied puzzle examples. Then David took us on a whistlestop tour of Great Britain with scenic Falcon puzzles, in tribute to Andrew Reynolds, who spent many years cataloguing them. Throughout the weekend, members, ‘helped’ by their pets, posted photos on flickr of the puzzles they were doing. Ten members took part in a Show and Tell on the theme, naturally, of Celebration. Finally on Sunday, we had an informal chat, discussing among other things the best type of paper to use for puzzle prints, and interesting future topics for the magazine. As the weekend drew to a close, members were still uploading and admiring puzzle photos on flickr. Next stop Coventry!

Two meetings were illustrated in this issue – one at Claypole, Lincs, with the theme ‘Something old, new, borrowed or blue’, and one in Ashmore, Dorset on ‘Historic Britain’. Join the BCD and see the world! Nicki profiled the redoubtable cutter Dave Evans, and Jackie began a retrospective on  early (pre- 2010) Wentworth, when their puzzles were made of plywood. Meanwhile, Bill began a leisurely stroll through his puzzle research, and David had a few tips for would-be collectors. Margot shared a little Holtzapffel portrait, and Kerstin showed a delightful piece of folk art from Germany. The British company Relish explained their history and their production of jigsaws aimed at people with dementia.  In ‘Meet a member’ we were introduced to Paul,  who is developing a jigsaw database.

  Imagine letting a group of puzzle fanatics loose in a puzzle factory! That’s what happened at our last meeting, which was hosted by Brian and Julie of JHG Jigsaws in Ashmore, Dorset. Julie demonstrated the processes, many of them manual, for making both cardboard and laser-cut wooden jigsaws. Our hosts also provided puzzles for us to try as well as delicious home-made cakes. The theme for Show and Tell featuring puzzles from members’ own collections was Historic Britain. Everyone present enjoyed this very special event.  

  The sky was blue, the theme was ‘Something old, new, borrowed or blue’ and club members (many wearing blue) were in great spirits. The splendid Arts and Crafts village hall had an added bonus – an adjoining café serving hot food and delicious cakes, in addition to the usual contributions from our members. After a morning spent puzzling, chatting and browsing the sales tables, the Show and Tell produced an interesting range of puzzles, including two of exactly the same print showing a mediaeval betrothal scene. One more meeting to go this year, at the JHG puzzle factory in Dorset in November. And then 2025 will begin as we mean to go on, with a virtual meeting in January and a very special house party in February. See you there!  

  Hopefully there was something for everyone in this issue, with a profile of legendary hand cutter Dee Rogers, a review of laser-cut puzzles worldwide and a competition to win cardboard puzzles from British producer JHG. There were reviews of Emma’s ‘Bold bright and colourful’ quarterly meeting in Bourton on the Water as well as  the Puzzle Parley and the Stave 50th Anniversary event in the USA. Maria described her oldest map. which shows the three journeys of Captain Cook, while Heather cut a puzzle portraying the huge map made by the Ngurrara tribe in Australia to demonstrate their title to their ancestral land. Bronwen gave a brief update on new hand cutters learning their craft in the U.K., and Per-Martin told the story of the Wirsing puzzle company in Sweden. Pete showed two portraits of mystery women, Nicki found out more about one of Britain’s oldest puzzle clubs, The Sphinx,  from an article in an Australian newspaper, and Camille from France introduced herself and her puzzling interests.