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CHAPTER TWO – PLAYGROUND GAMES

We had a lot of playground games. We would have particular activities for break-times at different times of the year. For instance everybody would have spinning-tops and then suddenly there would be no more tops and marbles would haveappeared, then skipping would take over. The skipping was done with an enormous skipping-rope. It stretched across the playground and was so long the girls could scarcely turn it. Everyone would go in and do whatever was required, on one foot, double jumps, two feet or whatever, and then they would run out. There were special skipping rhymes.

A rhyme that was possibly for skipping went like this:

If all the world were paper,
If all the seas were ink,
If all the trees were bread and cheese,
What should we have to drink?

RING GAMES
Some other games had verses. “The Farmer Takes a Wife” was one. Everyone stood in a ring and then it started . . . 'The farmer's in his den. The farmer's in his den. I tie tiddly I, the farmer's in his den.' Then it continues with . . . 'The farmer takes a wife. The farmer takes a son. The farmer takes a daughter. The farmer takes a (someone to work for him, like a cowman). Finally the farmer takes a dog.' Then we all crouched down and patted the dog, singing 'We all pat the dog'.
Another was 'On the Carpet You shall Kneel'. You had to stand up and choose somebody, but I forget how it went on. It was another ring game. There was one called Wallflowers, where everyone went round holding hands, but I can't remember any more about it.

LINE GAMES
Nuts in May. There were two long lines facing each other and every one walked backwards and forwards singing: "Here we go gathering nuts in May, nuts in May,
nuts in May" etc. There were quite a number of verses and activities to go with them.

Who shall we have for our Nuts in May?
We will have ABC for our Nuts in May.
Who shall we have to fetch her away?
We'll have XYZ to fetch her away.

Each line was repeated two to three times and I think the game ended with a tug-of-war. The nuts were probably the root of an umbelliferous plant - pig-nut (Conopodium majus) flowering in May, and growing from a round, brown, edible tuber. The ‘cold and frosty morning’ is quite appropriate, as there can be very sharp frosts in May. Another well known game was "Oranges and Lemons".

CHASING GAMES
Tick, and a variation called Stag. You chase and tick and then join hands with the person who has been caught, so one becomes two, and three until there is a long line of people chasing the few who have not been caught. Release, or Releaso: The idea was that there were two teams with two people from one team guarding the den. The other members of that team would then go out and ‘catch’ people to bring back to the den. They could be released from the den if someone from their side