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 managed to touch their hands without the people on guard being able to stop them. Sheep, sheep come over: I remember my mother, who came from Birmingham, talking about it, but we didn't play it here. I think it was a Dare game. There was a chasing game where you stood in front of someone and they had to nip out and chase round again.
There was hopscotch with various different designs. In another game the boys used to leap-frog over other boys. It started with going over one boy's back, then two and so on. Then there was the game in which someone faced the wall and the others had to try and creep up to them without being seen. Every so often they would turn round and immediately you had to freeze because if they spotted you moving you had to go back to the beginning.
Statues was a game in which we stood in a row and someone pulled us out and then we had to freeze into whatever shape we were in when we stopped. If you were pulled out bent over then you had to stay bent over. I think someone chose which one was the best.There was Leap-frog and a variation where one person bent down against a wall, then somebody would leap on their back, hold up their fingers and shout, "How Many?" If they got it wrong they had to stay bending down and so there would be a whole row of people. It was a boy's game.
CLAPPING GAMES
We used to clap in pairs to:
My mother says
I never should
Play with the gypsies
In the wood.
If I did she would say
Naughty girl to disobey.
We had a diabolo on a string which you had to spin round. Pogo sticks were pre-war because Roger Gaskell had one.
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