D Hewins of Grimsby

Apologies for the long hiatus since I last posted but I've been away in various places recently: some interesting and others... not so interesting.  I will concentrate on the former.

I'm not that well travelled in certain parts of England, being from North of the Border, but a current project at work (relating to offshore windfarm developments in the North Sea - there'll be 5,000 turbines on the Dogger Bank in 10 years, mark my words) has recently brought me to Hull, Scunthorpe and lastly Grimsby.  Of these, I was pleasantly surprised by Hull; Scunthorpe I didn't see much of and Grimsby I was a bit worried about until I discovered a gem: D Hewins Models and Hobbies at 7b East St Mary's Gate, unprepossessingly tucked away in a narrow brick courtyard behind an Italian restaurant. (It has no website).

I have to say that although it was well hidden ("You found us though," said Mr Hewins (I presume that it was he)) it was well worth it.  I love shops like that packed from floor to ceiling with models, books, soldiers, and yes, even railway stuff.

The great thing was that I found something that I'd been looking for for ages, which for some reason I had not been able to get hold of easily (or at least reasonably priced - perhaps it is out of print?): the Osprey Frederick the Great's Army (1) Cavalry.

Not that I have much in the way of Seven Years' War stuff, but it is an interest floating around somewhere.  There were a couple of other finds which I may blog about later (the 3 for 2 offer got me).  The things is, the proprietor clocked me for a wargamer right away, raising an eyebrow at my eclectic choice of books covering WW2, the SYW and the Crusades.  Well, I am the Wishful Wargamer, after all.

Anyway, a highly recommended shop and if you're in the area you should drop by and say the Wishful Wargamer sent you.  He won't remember me but he may recall the bald guy in the suit a couple of weeks ago with the massive suitcase barging about his shop grinning, and about to head off to Romania.....