Category Archives: Puffin Club

Another successful restoration…Puffin Mugs!

This is something I have wanted to do for a while!

My lovely puffin mug (the one on the right) that was accidentally smashed by my eldest when she was little (the restored graphic was one of my first postings!) and then stuck together with sellotape and modeling resin has been useless for anything other than storing bits and pieces – until now!

My youngest is quite taken with the whole ‘Puffin Thing’ and loves Fat Puffin, asked if she could make a different coloured image – easy on most image manipulation software – and then asked for a mug for her birthday. I finally sent both image files to the nice people at tshirtstudio.com who did a sterling job, turning it around in 48 hours!!

So I had the pleasure of drinking my tea from a treasured classic – as did my youngest!

Thanks Guys!

Please don’t ask me to make these up for any of you! The copyright issues are hideous!!

If you ever received a postcard from the Puffin Club…

…You probably got a card with this on the front! This is from the collection shared by Jacqueline Atkinson. This was a really clever response to submissions from members (and everyone else!) The front had this lovely illustration and the back had a tick-box selection also illustrated by Jill McDonald (unless you hadn’t recognised her deft pen and brushwork).

Look out for the typically humorous back of the card in future postings (I’ve got to promise something to get you to come back!!).

A new service!!

I have had several requests to buy items from my collection since I started this blog, and whilst it is tempting during these hard times, it has been hard searched for and acquired.

So I intend listing links to items for sale that I think are worth bidding for, or buying from a dealer.

The first listings are:

Puffin Post Volume 5 Nos 1, 2 , 3 ,4 plus folder – eBay
Looks in good condition. I have noticed that there have been more Vol.5 bundles over the past 18 months than any other, so the bidding for this shouldn’t be too bad.
Well that was a waste of time! No one bid!

Puffin Post Volume 4 Nos 1, 2 , 3 ,4 plus folder – eBay
Again, pretty good. The filled in crosswords etc. shouldn’t put you off. These are getting more scarce. Still shouldn’t get above £10 – 12.
And it didn’t – No one bid again! – You can’t say I didn’t try!!

A set of Volume 3 went for £12.06 a month or so ago, which is about on a par with book dealer prices.

PUFFIN Book Metal Pin Badge – eBay
One of the genuine enamel badges – not bad by the look of the photo, but it does appear to have firing flaws down the left side (quite common). These badges can get up to £15! I just depends who you are up against!
What a bargain!! The winning bidder got it for £4.45! Well done that eBayer!

Hope this helps some of you out.

…and something for the younger audience. The Egg no.28


Sadly this august publication has not (as yet) been resurrected as this is a real favourite of my five year old. The cover, illustrated by Captain Pugwash creator John Ryan, features the mascot of the Junior Puffin Club – Smudge! Fat Puffin was supposed to be the Uncle of Smudge, though I remember this as something I was told at a Puffin event rather than in the pages of Puffin Post itself.

Apropos of the Puffin events, I remember a very nice little play area that had been set aside for the younger Puffineers and a very nice sounding lady inside a Smudge costume wandering around near it. Fat Puffin was of course doing the same elsewhere at the event, but it’s an image that has stuck with me.

I would be very interested if anyone out there has any Junior Puffin Club magazines and members memorabilia, as it is incredibly rare to find in any state of preservation – I only have a few copies and nothing else!!

Something a bit more recent…Puffin Post Number 7 – Autumn 1985!

This is one of the better covers that came with the re-branding in the 80’s – a great cover by Quentin Blake. I’m afraid this cover got some water damage, hence the creases (Too much to restore this time round without messing up the ink-wash artwork).

The inside of these felt a bit disjointed, maybe due to a loss of a house stylist to guide the way. Jill McDonald’s graphics still appear throughout the magazine – old echoes of earlier times.

The other big change – and a big mistake in my opinion – was the change in size from A5 to an awkward A4! Why??

A cheery puffin from the early days


I can’t tell you the year this handsome chap appeared – but he is one of the early exhibition flyer puffins that decorated a Puffin Club Exhibition. There have been quite a few that Jill McDonald designed over the years with a kind of evolution that becomes easier and more stylised with every passing event and exhibition. It makes me wonder what she would have produced if she hadn’t died at such an early age. Something marvelous!

Image from the collection of Ruth – Founder member 1487 – Restored S. Hassan Jan 2009

Something familiar…

Here’s the old members book that remained pretty unchanged for the whole original clubs existence. Two founder membership cards have a similar look to them in blue and pink.

Just as in the new club, it also held a copy of the Puffin Code!

I can’t remember whether I mentioned it in a previous post – Jill McDonalds first big contribution to Puffin was of course the Puffin Logo/Badge itself.

You want badges? OK then…


Yes, it’s a Puffin Explorer badge – one of the old ones. I’ve sadly mislaid one of the fifteen badges in this collection – it’ll probably turn up when I least expect it. Never mind, I’ve still got the rest of them to share with you all.

Again, these are the work of Jill McDonald. One of my earlier posts showed one of the designs used as a rubber stamp. All of these badges were given away at Puffin exhibitions in the late 70’s.

This is an example of the badges that followed Jill’s death – The work is very slick, and obviously follows Jill’s example, but it doesn’t quite reach me in the same way. If you are the illustrator, please don’t take offense! I’m a big fan of Jill’s work, and I may be a bit blinkered.