Street Games in Scotland in the 50s

Some Housekeeping As promised, the blog this week is about street games that we played in the 50s in Scotland. But just before I begin on the main point of this week's blog, I would like to draw your attention to three other pages that are now in the blog. You can access these pages by clicking at the one you are interested in on the right hand side of the blog. One of them just gives the contact details. The other three though, I am expecting to grow over time. The first of these was one suggested by my friend Anne Marie: she thought it might be fun to have a glossary of words that we used, some we still use, where, although we know what they mean, we maybe do not know how we got hold of them in the first place. The one I have begun this section with is, as she recommended "Away and bile yer heid!" There is also a section on songs of the fifties, and as Harry Lauder died in 1950, I have begun this section with him. Many folk found Harry Lauder a bit of a joke, with his over tartaned rigout and his knobbly walking stick. He tended to emphasise what many people saw as a false memory of Scotland, and one that gave no recognition to the new industrial face of Scotland. However, Harry Lauder and his like did manage in their own way to keep the spirit of Scotland alive and will themselves have contributed to the fact that we are having a referendum next year on Scotland's independence. Whether you are for or against independence, it is now clear that things economic and social in Scotland will never be the same again. Scotland has found a voice and is standing up for itself. And finally, there is a new page on the bigger matters that were happening in Scotland while we were growing up and too small to be aware of - but these have also shaped the way Scotland is just now. The first posting on this page is about the mass movement towards home rule (I didn't know about it until I researched for this blog). Two million Scots signed the petition. Not bad given the population is only 5 million, with a good number of those children and too young to sign the petition. Again, while I never realised it, past generations did do their bit to get recognition for Scotland. Street Games Right. Here we go on the street games. I have to begin with Irene (my sister). Not slow with the old brains she had the bright idea of going along to her knitting groups and asking her friends what they played at. So thanks to the knitters of the Barrhead Woolpack and the Stewarton Knitting Club. I hope you will become regulars visiting and contributing to the blog. Among girls, the favourites were skipping, peever, and balls. Among boys, well.... I only hope the police and the security services are not scanning this blog! What I am going to do is set out some of our memories of  street games and then I hope that you will click on the video link below which gives about twenty minutes of unadulterated pleasure - mainly for the lassies. The Scottish Screen archive is held by the National Library of Scotland and they have prepared this video. If you click on the underlined words Singing Street below you will get the video. Once the page is up on your computer, click on the white triangle on the picture and it will start. Make sure you have the sound on. And if you want to expand the picture click on the arrows at the far right at the bottom of the picture. To get back to a small screen press the ESC button on your keyboard. Skipping The best ropes of course were the old washing lines - but no thanks, not the broken bit with the rough join in it! It was great to get a special personal skipping rope with wooden handles for a birthday. What did you like? jumping two feet together as you cawed the rope; skipping forward; skipping backward? The video shows two girls skipping together along the street with only one rope - wow! But once you were big enough, it was great fun to be skipping while others held the ropes: ( if there was just yourself and one chum, one end of the rope could be tied to a railing or a clothes pole and one of you cawed while the other skipped. Because there are so many games that were played on the street and in the playground, I am leaving the big skipping games to the playground blog. But if you like to contribute some of the skipping rhymes to the blog, please do so. Ball Games The best ball games were played against a wall, away from folks' windows. The smoother and taller the wall, the better. Simple games were one ball, but it was the two ball games Mary and I liked best. Mary She remembers; Plainy, clappy, Roll the reel to backy, touch our heel, touch our toe, touch the ground, and burl around. The actions we had to do were: Plainy: Throw the ball  against the wall and catch it. Clappy: As for Plainy, but clap hands when the ball is in the air. Rolley: Roll arms over one another when the ball is in the air. To Backey: Clap hands behind back when the ball is in the air. Burl Around: Turn completely around when the ball is in the air. She also remembers playing balls against the wall to the rhyme PK chewing gum, penny per packet, first you chew it, then you crack it, then you stick it to your jacket PK chewing gum, penny per packet. There was also One, two, three, aleerie, Four, five, six, aleerie, Seven, eight, nine, aleerie, Ten aleerie, out of it As I remember, this was a two ball game. At the word "aleerie", we had to bounce the ball on the ground at an angle so that it would then hit the wall on the rebound and then come back to us. Second time round on the verse, you lifted your right leg and stoated the ball under it: third time, you bounced the ball between your legs: fourth time sideways behind your back, and finally threw the ball while burling around. A similar song with the same actions was: Sixie on the garden gate, sixie on the wall, sixie on the garden gate and then you let the ball fall. Irene Another great ball game was Stoaters. For this you needed one of your mother's old stockings. Jam the ball down to the toe and then play games swinging the ball in the stocking against the wall: over arm left, overarm right, above your head and on. Some of the rhymes were really simple, for example: ha'penny band, biscuit, out. Looking forward to getting some of your memories. I am now going to list some of the other street games we played. In later blogs, I will fill in some detail, but would be pleased if you sent in some thoughts yourself. Tig Bools, (marbles) A Girdy Cleek (It made a great noise, especially on cobbles). Wee houses, Wee shops, Dressing up, Having a concert Dolls and prams The Farmer wants a wife Whip and peerie Stilts Hide and Seek BUT it is now time to record some of the games that the other half were playing. Football was always good fun. And conkers was a great favourite in the Autumn. Bill Bill tells of Hunch, cuddy, hunch. For this you stand against a wall, facing it, with your legs slightly open, and your hands outstretched leaning on the wall. The game involves your mates taking a run towards you and jumping on your back one by one. How many can you take before you collapse?  (Great! how's back pain in Glasgow among the over 65s?) He can also remember Kick the Can. Here a can is pt down on the ground. Someone is het. The person who is going to hide kicks the can away as far as possible . The person who is het has to get the can and return it to its position before searching for the person who is hiding. Graham The number of grown men that can remember, with a laugh, ringing doorbells and then running away. But Graham took the biscuit when he said a game they played was going up a close and tying the two door handles of opposite facing flats together. You then rang the doorbells or chapped on the door, and ran away I am sure you can envisage the result. The wee scamps. Jim and Graham Well I remember well going to the butchers, but I do not remember ever asking for an ox eye. This pair can remember getting an ox eye, wrapping their finger round it, and then going up to folk and frightening them with it. Another great one was getting a chicken foot: when they pulled the tendon, the foot moved, again giving people a fright.  Peashooters and catapults were regular stock in trade; every boy seemed to have a penknife,  and as it was not that long after the War, boys thought nothing about trying to make bombs, - and they seem to have been encouraged by their Dads. Changed days. A great game, of course, was trying to make a bogey. A few planks, a bit of rope,  and the wheels of an old pram and they were away. I don't have much memory for climbing myself, although the wash houses, middens and big walls between rows of tenements regularly had folk on them. My sister tells me that I did go up on them and got into trouble for scuffing shoes. What I do remember is the number of boys with their arm in a sling. Well more of this street game malarkey next week. But before I go can you remember your knees in the early 50s? Scabs, blood and dirt, or a bandage. Gravel in the wound that all had to be cleaned out before TCP or iodine was put on - and if you got an infection then you were heading for pain, followed by a kaolin or bread poultice. Guys, I have run out of energy. I am signing off. It is now over to Betty, and to Gordon, who, believe it or not live in Italy. Betty's memories of street games in Edinburgh "I've been thinking about the street games. It was easy in my childhood as there were hardly any cars in my part of Edinburgh - Wardlaw Place, Gorgie. Among the ones I remember was the usual hide and seek but one time my idea of a hiding place was a bit different.   In the late 40s and, I think, into the early 50s there were 'pigs' bins' in our street. These were  the bins where you put your 'organic' rubbish, eg potato peelings etc.  We had one opposite our tenement and my mother was horrified one day to see me from the window during a game of hide and seek lowering myself into the bin and pulling the lid down to close it. I was immediatley dragged into the house, scrubbed clean with Dettol  and all my clothes washed. We also played peevers - I especially liked the 'aeroplane beds' and used to play with a very posh peever made of white marble with my initials engraved on the top.  It was made for me by a family friend who was a tombstone maker. I wish I still had it today as it would have made a lovely paper weight but unfortunately in got broken one day so it was back to the old shoe polish tin.  1. kick the can - I was forbidden from playing that after I kicked a can so heartily that it went through someone's window and my parents had to pay for the damage. -  2. You can't cross the Red River Skipping was another favourite with two ropes. One person going in at a time. One skipping rhyme  I remember and which  obviously had origins at an elecction time was  Vote, vote, vote For ( name of one  candidate) In comes ( name of an opposing candidate) at the door.  He's the one that gives us all the fun So we don't want ( name of the first candidate) anymore  Shut the door! On the first line the first person to skip jumped into the double ropes being turned by a person at either end and on the third line the second person jumped in. they continued to skip until the last line when the first person had to jump out and so it continued until someone tripped and had to take a turn of turning the rope. Other games that were popular were 3. Plying with two or even three balls against the tenement wall almost liek juggling them. 4. There was another and I can't remember the name or exactly how it went but one person was on one side of the street who told  the others one by one to take giant steps, baby steps, to hop etc  4. Great favourites were the 'backgreen concerts' where I usually appeared. My party piece there was to sing 'The Lullaby of Broadway' with actions that I made up - it must have been really painful for all the parents that had to come and watch. 5. I'm sure others will tell you about 'Cowboys and Indians'.  In my time the Western films were very popular.  Thinking of films there were also the Kids' film clubs on Saturday mornings - but maybe that for another time! Gordon  Gordon says that the games he played were pretty similar but living near the Water of Leith he spent a lot of time fishing for sticklebacks, tadpoles etc. SINGING STREET, the [0799] Collection of children's street games filmed in the streets of Edinburgh accompanied by traditional children's songs.