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Saturday, 28 June 2025

Waterloo Day 1975!

I came across this the other day on Facebook and thought it might interest some here. What struck me was seeing 'HQ, 1A Craven Passage, Charing Cross' listed as one of the exhibitors because it was where I first started buying Hinchliffe ECW figures around that time. In 1976 I was 18 years old and had started work at the Municipal Mutual Insurance Company, Old Queen Street, Westminster,. My short walk to work from Charing Cross station took me across Trafalgar Square, under Admiralty Arch and along past Horse Guards and the lower end of Downing Street. I can't recall how I discovered 'HQ' possibly from a hobby magazine advert but once I had I became frequent visitor and all of my first Hinhcliffe ECW figures were purchased from what was a tiny shop, barely able to fit 3 customers and that at a squeeze! I don't though remember anything about this event, I wonder if anyone else does?




Craven Passage, you can see the platform level of Charing Cross and 'HQ' was just along from the Ship and Shovel, a Victorian  pub connected underground by cellars which occupied both sides of the alley.


9 comments:

  1. Two things were key to my teenage introduction in the hobby. One was the library for all the Featherstone books and the other was having a local hobby shop to ‘explore’ the hobby and take first steps. As a result I have a nostalgic fondness from the various outlets spread across a city that would sell figures ….. now all gone of course and I do feel we have lost something, internet retail is just so soulless.

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    1. Hi Norm, yes, it's a shame about the hobby shops although Model Railway shops seem to be flourishing. I was also a regular at the local library where they had a good stock of wargaming and military history books. I guess the only thing about internet retail is that we don't have to send off Postal Orders and then wait up to 28 days for delivery :)
      Cheers
      Lee

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  2. Interesting never heard of that - I note that Hinton Hunt didn’t attend!

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    1. Ian, see Steves link to the PDF below.
      Cheers,
      Lee.

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  3. I was too busy doing my O Levels!

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  4. I was probably just about getting started with Airfix...I would have been going on 13 in June 1975. I lived in a small town in NE Scotland and very rarely saw the inside of a real wargaming or model shop, so even back then, when I started to buy a few Minifigs, it was all done via Military Modelling and Royal Mail!

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  5. Don mentions it in the editorial of the August 74 Newsletter - linky ==> https://www.fourcats.co.uk/mags/files/WGN-161-Aug-75c.pdf

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    1. That's an excellent find Steve and thanks for sharing the link. That cover photo was a huge nostalgia hit for me, really captures the hobby at that period and what attracted me to it. I enjoyed reading that. It's funny how at a time when I'm really struggling with enthusiasm for the hobby and it's modern day demands I find myself yearning for the simplicity of those times again!
      Cheers,
      Lee.

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    2. No problem, Lee.. Jon has done an amazing job digitising those Newsletters, sounds like they might be just the job at the moment...

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