Childhood Games

A very favourite past-time when we were young, it didn't matter what the weather was like, we always skipped - except if it was very hot; then we just lolled around, we didn't have television back then. We didn't have fancy skipping ropes with handles, either, all we had was a length of rope. We always made it the right length by winding the surplus round our hands, like so:

We played quite a lot of games, one being straightforward skipping: ten skips on the right foot, ten skips two feet together, ten skips on the left foot. If you reached thirty skips without tripping over the rope you were a winner.

We also used to chant rhymes as we skipped. I can only remember three rhymes at the moment, the first one being:

Another was:

There was also the one we thought was very daring:

These are not the official words, I think they are Skip to Marlou or something like that.

The rhymes were always followed by a series of "bumps". These were skips to a double turning of the rope. One would count the skips: 1 double turn, 2 double turns, 3 double turns, etc. If one was very clever you could reach as high as 15. A very exhausting game.

A group of girls would play this game: one girl would skip while the others stood in a semicircle around the skipper. The skipper would proceed to skip and she would call a name (say, Eileen): "Eileen, Eileen come in with me, and tell me the name of your sweetheart."

The one called in would say a boy's name (say, Peter). They would then skip together spelling P-E-T-E-R, then she would run out. If she tripped over the rope she would be out of the game. The skipper could change with anyone she chose.

This was quite a skilful game. First one hunted for five pebbles, smooth and round and equal size (not so easy in a built-up area). Once found the game could be played.

The game was usually played alone as it needed a great deal of concentration. Four stones would be placed on the ground in a cross pattern, a snatching distance apart. Then one would toss the remaining pebble into the air, snatch up a stone and hopefully catch the one coming down so you had two pebbles in your hand. Then you continued until all the pebbles were snatched and you had all five pebbles in your hand.

In bygone days cigarette cards were usually given away free in the packets, and would be collected by the children. We would stand about ten cards along a wall and throw cards at them, trying to knock the standing cards over. The ones you managed to knock over were your winnings. You would think that we would soon run out of cards. Our solution was that the one who knocked over the most cards stacked up the cards for the next game (very democratic).

We had very few rows or fights because we had an unfailing rule: if one had to drop out of a game, a call from Mum, dinnertime, on a tumble, one could always call "Feinits"; and, although the game went on, you never felt excluded in your absence as you could just carry on when you returned. Feinits applied to any game at any time, especially when we were playing He. After running around for quite a while one would get out of breath and feel exhausted. One could call "Feinits" and have a rest, then join in again when one recovered.

A game much enjoyed by boys and girls was Kiss Chase. The girls usually outnumbered the boys and it sometimes finished with the boys getting mobbed. They loved it.

Another game which could be played by just two players was marbles. We had glass marbles in those days. They were truly beautiful, very much like miniature glass paperweights. They were different sizes: the small ones we called miggies, the large ones we called cannonballs, I forget what we called the sizes in between large and small. The object of the game was to roll your marbles and try to hit the other person's marble. If you managed to hit a marble (not your own) you won it. That meant no one ever ran out of marbles completely. At the end of the game you kept the ones you had, also the one with the most marbles could pick up the marbles left in play.

Another game was always played with a group of children. We called it "Statues". One person would stand facing the wall, the rest of the group would be over the road, the object being to eventually touch the one at the wall on the shoulder. To do this the group members had to move slowly or quickly across the road, the catch being that the one facing the wall would swing round to face the group; if she saw anyone moving they were out, hence the name "Statues". One had to be quite still when the spotter turned, which wasn't as easy as it sounds. It taught one the art of anticipation.

When we finally got home, usually very dirty, Mum would always strip us down and wash us from head to foot, always rinsing our hair with a jug full of vinegar-water. I am proud to say that when "Nitty Nora" visited our school we (our family) never had nits and we never had to visit a cleansing station. We always had very short hair, and I was pleased every Friday night, when it was my turn to stand on a sheet of newspaper and have my hair combed with the tooth comb (it would be a very painful experience with long hair).

There was very little traffic in those days, which made playing in the street comparatively safe. The traffic was always very exciting and interesting, like the Ding-dong-ice-cream, a tricycle with a bell that rang "ding-dong"; it was usually a Walls ice cream bike. A great favourite was the water ice in a three-cornered cone (they were the cheapest) - about 3 inches long, all kids loved them. The coal cart with its friendly horse, we didn't mind getting dirty as, naturally, the coal carts were always filthy. Then there was the frozen block lorry: this carried blocks of ice which people bought to put under their pantry shelves to help keep the food fresh in very hot weather. Also the Organ Grinder, we always danced to the tunes he played, and begged our Mum to give us a halfpenny to give to the monkey. There was also the Rag & Bone man. His cart was always very colourful and we loved to shout with him "Raaag-a-boones" until he shouted at us to go away. If we had any old clothes to give him he usually gave us a goldfish in a jam jar. The Brewer's wagon was always a wonderful experience: the horses so big, with wonderful shiny medals on their harness and a lovely jingle as they walked. It was so very interesting, when they arrived at the pub and they opened up a big trap door in the pavement and unloaded the big barrels of Beer; at least, they seemed enormous to us.

One of our more inventive pastimes was building what we called "grottoes". They mainly consisted of a collection of stones, milk tops, pieces of wood, in fact anything that was small and colourful. We would then make small pictures or patterns. They were then judged, usually by passers-by. People had time in those days and didn't mind spending a few minutes to encourage children in their harmless pastimes. They would often reward the one judged to be best with a sweet or biscuit.

We played numerous card games. Some are still popular today, although they now have different names. There was Patience, played with the whole pack by one person. Perseverance was needed in this game, not skill. Happy Families was usually played with two, three or four children - a special pack of picture cards was used for this game.

Also we played a game called Fish. The cards were dealt face-down, each player receiving seven cards (there were usually three or four players). After each player had received his cards what was left was placed in a pile face-down in the centre of the table. Each player then looked at his cards and kept them facing himself so that the other players couldn't see them. Then they would ask in turn the person sitting on their left for a specific number card, but it had to be one they were holding in their hands, the object being to match one of the cards in your hand. When asked "have you got any twos?" the person asked had to hand over any he had, if not he would answer "Fish", and the asker had to take a card from the centre pile. The final intention was to obtain four cards the same, then one would lay the set on the table in front of one. When all the centre cards were gone the player with the most sets in front of them would win. The twist was if one had collected three the same and someone asked if you had that card, you had to hand over your three so the other person had a set. Memory played a big part in this game.

We also played Pontoon (still very popular today). We used buttons to bet with (grown-ups would use money).

A very popular pastime was building the cards (always played by oneself). Very tricky, it demanded great perseverance and patience, but one got very involved. One would start by standing two cards on end in an inverted V, then proceed to lay flat cards overlapping them to for a platform. Then you would proceed as follows:

One could use as many cards as one wished to. The object was to build as high as one could. Such involvement and endeavour, but the thrill of achievement was unsurpassed when one achieved a large, tall tower. Everyone enjoyed blowing it down so it could then be started all over again.

I also liked a game called "Potatohead". We would go over to the Caledonian market and find the old potatoes the stall-holder had thrown out and, on the way home, we would hunt for bits and pieces such as small pebbles and buttons, pieces of wood, string, coloured papers (sweet wrappers, usually), anything at all that we felt might be useful. We would wait for a rainy day, we never had to wait too long, then we would make our own potato-men with the bits and pieces we had collected. Our imaginations could run riot, and sometimes the finished men were really funny and entertaining. This could be played any time, we didn't really have to wait for wet weather. We had little competitions in the streets, we had fun.

Another game we played in pairs. This was often used as a divvying-up game. It consisted of two people facing each other with both hands behind one's back. On the count of three they would bring one hand forward. There were three hand movements: a closed fist (stone), two index fingers held forward (scissors), and a flat hand palm uppermost.

The stone would blunt the scissors, the scissors would cut the paper, the paper would wrap the stone.