Kershaw, Andrew

Very fine quality, limited production, British cutter of wooden jigsaw puzzles, mostly on thick 5-ply wood. Andrew's initial interest in wooden jigsaw puzzles stemmed from his grand-father, the Reverend Rory McDougall, a prolific cutter in the 1920s and 1930s, using a Hobbies "Gem" treadle saw. These puzzles were primarily cut for the use of family and friends. Upon his death in 1951, Andrew's grand-mother Dolly McDougall used many of these puzzles to start the East Anglian Jig-Saw Puzzle Club, herself going on to become an expert cutter in order to increase her available stock. When Dolly passed away in 1966 Andrew took over the club, running it for the next three years, until his full-time work commitments and a steep rise in postal costs lead him to close its doors.
Some time later, when his own boys were at secondary school, Andrew began cutting more puzzles, some for friends, others for charitable purposes and also as private commissions.
Andrew also went on to become the membership secretary for the BCD, for many years cutting small and intricate, personalised new membership jigsaw puzzles for every new member enrolled. Sadly, these are no longer produced, but members who already have one are very proud of them!