Their expertise and attention to detail made them the perfect couple to inspect boxes of puzzles before today's "Anything But Books Sale" at the Regent Theatre.
It's a job they relish and this is the third year they've done it. This time round they've made up about 30 sets.
‘‘We do it for the challenge of completing the puzzles,'' Mrs Stanaway said. ‘‘We also don't want people to be disappointed when they take the boxes home.''
Mr Stanaway said there was nothing worse than for a jigsaw enthusiast to get to the end of a puzzle only to have pieces missing ‘‘or realise the vacuum has sucked some pieces up''.
The couple had their own way of approaching puzzles.
Mrs Stanaway (61) preferred to work in from the corners, whereas Mr Stanaway (60) pieced his puzzles from pictures he identified on each piece.
‘‘Most of the time I end up telling him off, so we tend to work on our own puzzles on our own tables. I don't like working on puzzles with other people,'' Mrs Stanaway said.
Solving jigsaws is just one of the hobbies the couple share: Others include driving steam trains at Ocean beach.
The couple are a familiar sight at the Regent Theatre. They have volunteered their time at the theatre's refreshment bar, Sinclairs, since 2002.
