Free A 1950s Childhood by Paul Feeney Page B

skipping rope, often adapted from mum’s washing line, was never too far away to bring into use when someone suggested it. Girls would often skip alone but it was best played as a group competition. Depending upon the number ofplayers, the rope would be turned by one girl at either end, or one girl would turn the rope with the other end tied to a lamppost. The turners get the rope to slap the pavement in time to a skipping rhyme being chanted by the skippers. There were loads of rhymes with key words and phrases that prompted the skipper to do a trick in one turn of the rope; like jumping extra high with both feet together, hopping the rope very close to the ground, kicking one foot out, crossing and uncrossing feet and legs, and turning to face the other way. Boys were always fascinated by the skill of the girls and the tricks they could do. The skipper would run out from the turning rope, around one of the girls twirling it, and back in time to the beat of the skipping rope hitting the pavement. Certain phrases in the rhymes would invite other girls to join in with, or to take over from, the skipper on the next turn of the rope. Double Dutch was really difficult, with two turning ropes for the skipper to negotiate. There were names for all the tricks, like Kick (kicking one foot out), Sizzler (crossing and uncrossing feet) and Split (opening legs wide apart). There were so many skipping variations and so many rhymes, with several different versions adapted around the country.
    Tin Tan Tommy: Played with an old tin can. One person was chosen to be ‘it’ and a place was designated to be the ‘home’ point, where the tin can would sit while the game was played. To start the game, one of the players would throw the tin can as hard as he or she could away from the home point. Whoever was ‘it’ would chase after the can to retrieve it and return it to ‘home’. Meanwhile, all the others would run and hide. Once the can was back in placeon the ‘home’ spot, the person who was ‘it’ would go and search for the other players. When one was discovered, ‘it’ would run back to the can and bash it up and down on the ground while shouting ‘Tin Tan Tommy, I see Mickey behind the wall’, or something similar. But if the discovered person could get back to the can and bash it on the ground before ‘it’, then he or she was ‘home’ and safe, otherwise that person became ‘it’ and another game began.
    Two-Balls (juggling with tennis balls): A girls’ game that was usually played by juggling with two balls in the air or against a wall, but sometimes the girls would use three or four balls. It was a skill that was mastered by most girls at a very young age, and although boys admired the skills, they saw it as a girl’s game and usually steered clear of it. Playing two-balls was always done to the beat of a chanted rhyme. There were lots of tricks that were described with words like plainsy, upsy, over, dropsy, bouncy, legsy, twirly. Such words were inserted in the rhymes to indicate when to do a certain movement with a ball … One, two, three and PLAINSY; four, five, six and PLAINSY …
    Over the garden wall
    I let my baby sister fall;
    My mother came out
    And gave me a clout,
    I told my mother
    Not to boss me about;
    She gave me another
    To match the other,
    Over the garden wall.
    Juggling two balls against the pavement was usually done to the rhyme One Two Three O’Leary .
    Up the Wall: Usually played with cigarette cards or other collecting cards from packets of Barrett’s sweets or Brooke Bond Tea cards. Teenagers sometimes played it with coins (farthings, halfpennies and pennies). From an agreed spot, a few feet away from a wall, you would flick your card or coin forwards as accurately as possible. The player who got nearest the wall won and took all the cards or coins already along the ground.
    What’s the Time Mr Wolf?: One person was chosen to be ‘it’ and a place was designated to be the