The Jigsaw library is a Registered Charity and we have a committee to oversee the running of the library. This comprises a Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary and other committee members all elected annually at the AGM.

The Library is manned by a team of volunteers on a day to day basis.

Volunteering

We are always looking for new volunteers to help with the running of the Library. 

This does not necessarily have to be a regular commitment but can include cover for holidays or numbering of puzzles etc. If you would like to join our team or learn more about what help you can provide then please contact the library.

History of the Devon & Exeter Jigsaw Puzzle Library

The Library was the idea of Mr George Ashby, who, as a youth in London, found that the only entertainment he could afford was a sixpenny jigsaw puzzle, and, in later years, as an invalid, he fell back on them again as a way of whiling away the hours of recovery from a series of illnesses. When he retired, he remembered the therapeutic value of those jigsaw puzzles and thought of the possibilities of helping others in the same way.

On 14th September 1972, he and others met at St. James Activity Centre and ‘The Exeter Jigsaw Library’, probably Britain’s first jigsaw puzzle library specifically for the disabled and housebound, was launched with an interest free loan of £25.00 and donations totalling £11.00 to buy an initial stock of jigsaw puzzles. The Library was later extended to include the elderly and retired.

Although distribution of the puzzles was made from a room rented in the St. James Activity Centre, the jigsaws were stored in the Ashby’s flat in Blackboy Road, taking up every room, including ‘the smallest one’!

By 1974, due to its success, branches had opened in many towns across Devon including Dawlish, Tiverton and Sidmouth. As a result of their growth it was agreed to change the title of the library to ‘The Devon & Exeter Jigsaw Library’ in 1976. Following the building of a new centre at Palace Gate, owned by the Baptist Church Authority, a room was allocated to the Library in January 1978, which is the same room it operates from today, making it probably the smallest jigsaw library in England and celebrated its 50th anniversary in September 2022.

The Library operating from 3 Palace Gate Buildings, off South Street, Exeter, is open on weekdays, Monday to Friday, from 10.00 a.m. to 12.00noon. There are over 1000 different puzzles to choose from with pieces from 200 – 1000 and includes large piece jigsaws and circular puzzles. No charge is made for the loan of puzzles but donations are welcome and essential to help cover the increasing costs of running the Library. Originally intended for the use of the disabled and housebound, membership is now open to all sections of the community who will benefit from the therapeutic value of jigsaw puzzles.