I needed to pick up a couple of fastenings this week – screws for repairing some of the children’s chairs at church and some grub screws for my six string headless bass. I’d looked online at Screwfix, which has been my normal go-to for such things, but the chair screws were about £10 for 100 (I needed three and certainly not that many spares) and the grub screws were only available in a set for about £30 and I don’t think any of them would have been suitable. That’s when I remembered a friend’s recommendation for Charnwood Fasteners, which even nearer to me than my local Screwfix (although only by a couple of hundred metres).

You can probably guess from the title that I hit gold. They took one look at the sample screw and came back with a perfect match. The grub screws took a little longer but only because they had to check on my bass to gauge the width and depth (M6 and about 5mm long for future reference). I went for 10 of the first screw and was just going to get six of the grub screws but the chap suggested I might as well get 12 as they were inexpensive.

How inexpensive? My order came to a grand total of £1.50. In fact the only problem was that I only had a £20 note and they didn’t want to take a card transaction for such a small amount so, despite me being a brand new customer, they suggested I pop in and pay later when I had the change. I’ll see if I can break the £20 this weekend and pop back on Monday but they absolutely deserve this glowing recommendation. I know exactly where I’m headed next time I need some kind of fastener.

Don’t worry Screwfix — the power tool battery I also picked up this morning works very well so you aren’t entirely abandoned except for, well, screws and fixings!