Handy Jigsaws Donations

This policy applies to donations of jigsaw puzzles to Handy Jigsaws.

Handy Jigsaws is a free jigsaw library, available to all Kelsall residents. The library is stocked, maintained and managed by Dab Hand Puzzles & Pastimes as a long-term initiative to support the local community. It was launched in consultation with the Kelsall Medical Centre PPG.  We are enthusiastic puzzlers ourselves and are convinced of the benefits of jigsaws, particularly during difficult times.

We aim to offer a large and varied collection of quality, checked and complete titles using:

  • Our own substantial and diverse collection of jigsaws.
  • Gratefully accepted jigsaw donations.

We do not actively seek donations for Handy Jigsaws but are pleased to consider any that are offered to us. If you have any jigsaws you would like to donate, please review the following:

  • We favour popular brands including Gibsons, Falcon, Wasgij, Ravensburger, and HOP, plus various other quality manufacturers.
  • We try to maintain a balance of brands, themes, piece counts and piece sizes.
  • The Handy Jigsaws service is limited to Kelsall residents as we do not have the resources to expand it further.

What we do with your donated jigsaws:

  • All donations are documented and checked for completeness and condition.
  • Jigsaws of low quality from budget manufacturers are donated to charity shops because in our experience these are insufficiently durable for multiple loans.
  • Jigsaws that we find to be incomplete are used for “Dab Handmade” craft purposes or otherwise disposed of. Occasionally, sealed new jigsaws may be offered as raffle prizes at charitable or community events.
  • Suitable jigsaws are added to the Handy Jigsaws library. They are prioritised to maintain a balance of themes and piece counts. As an acknowledgment, the donor’s initials are added to the jigsaw description.
  • All jigsaws including donations are maintained in the library for a minimum of three months and they are only withdrawn within this time if they suffer damage or missing pieces.
  • Loan activity is reviewed on a quarterly basis and titles with little or no interest are withdrawn and offered for sale. Proceeds from used jigsaw sales contribute towards replacement stock for withdrawn titles to keep the service updated and interesting on an ongoing basis.

Other points:

  • We aim to maintain the Handy Jigsaws service to a very high standard but we do have some limitations on storage space and management time, and therefore we may not always be able to accept donations.
  • All donations are handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy and our COVID-19 Policy.

This policy was last modified in November 2021 (concerning raffle prizes) and may be updated from time to time.