The Puffin Post Relaunch

eptember is on the way out and so is the ultra brief Indian summer.

Here I am back from the newly relaunched and re imagined Puffin Post party. I'm glad to say that it has retained the spirit of the old, whilst made it accessible for today's kids - and what a lot of kids there were!! I'm sure that there will be coverage in the press about the party, but it included all of the elements that were around in the old Puffin Parties and Exhibitions. I think Kaye would have been very pleased.

I also did my bit talking about the clubs old and new on BBC Three Counties Radio with author Jeremy Strong. For some reason, the listen again facility for the show hasn't been updated for over a week - The nice people at BBC Three Counties Radio have told me they are looking into it. As far as I can tell, it went very well. I'd be interested to know if any of you heard it.

Puffin Thinkbook - The Return!!

Well, I finally did it! I mentioned in my earlier blog entry that I would attempt to tun my Moleskine sketchbook into a Thinkbook - It worked! This is my old Thinkbook from 1979 with the new improved model of 2008. Now my kids are bugging me for one as well! Talk about making a rod for my own back!

Puffin Post Vol.2 no.4 - Wait a tick, this looks familiar!!!

Those of you keeping up with events will recognise this image - the new Puffin Post has snipped Jills artwork out of this and updated the background. I must admit I have a soft spot for decoupage, and 1968 was a very good year for it on the covers of Puffin Post.

Radio 4 are on the case

For those who might be interested...

The Today Program on BBC Radio 4 had a small item at the end of the show about the launch of the new Puffin Post. Listen again will be available till Friday 26 September 2008. The Gallery of covers will probably survive for much longer.

Today programme link

Gallery

Bookplates

Another little treat for you. This is the original Puffin Club bookplate design. You would get a sheet of eight of these on pre-gummed paper. I think this has a lovely old school charm about it. It certainly felt like your books were safer when you lent them to friends (didn't stop them from getting scuffed to hell though - you know who you are!!!!)

The new Puffin Post club has revived this design with a lot of colour and the addition of their puffin mascot - as yet unnamed.

Puffin Club? Puffin Post? What's the difference?

I have to admit I'm a bit of a pedant when it comes to history - it comes from working in Film restoration and in the media. There's a lot of revisionist thinking out there (re-writing of history).

So what was the 'Puffin Club' (not Puffin Post)? Well here's a great little explanation by Kaye Webb herself, writing in the Puffin Diary of 1979:

The new club is called 'Puffin Post' - not the 'Puffin Club'. The club is now the schools entity. I suppose this makes it easier to differentiate between the two. I can't help feeling this may confuse a few of us older members, but I have to remind you - 'It's not for us! It's for our kids!'

Another stamp

Yes indeedy, it's one of the few autographs I have bothered to get in my life - and it's a good one! This is one of three autographs I got from Kaye Webb - The other ones are in 'The Puffin Joke Book' and 'I Like this Poem'. You can see this image used again in one of my earlier postings used as the cover of the 'The most gigantic tiny notebook in the world' (a new version of which will be included in the new club members pack - not by Jill McDonald though!)