Do you remember calling for your friends to come out to play? What did you do??

I lived near a small park with a path running through it.
We used to play a game called "Please Sir may I cross the river". One person would stand in the middle of the path and try to stop us crossing to the other side. The shrubs and bushes which surrounded the park were ideal for hide-and-seek, or tag.
And we used to play hopsctoch, and do a lot of skipping with long ropes. We used to chant "Salt Vinegar Mustard and Pepper" for some reason which escapes me.

I lived in the East End of London so we played in the streets and were very occasionally taken to the park.

We used to play on the 2 bomb sites in our road - ah happy days. NOT!!!

We lived in the countryside so access to woods which as children we just loved to play hide and seek in. We also had access to tennis courts but before we could play tennis we used to play with a racket and ball against a baker's wall. It must have driven the staff crazy but nobody said anything.
The father of one of my friends built her a small shed so we used to spend hours there- I cannot remember what we talked about but the three of us loved spending hours there.

WW010. did all that, and we would all either walk or cycle to the swimming pool. We would put on 'plays' in my garden especially if mum had sheets on the line. As a crown we were rarely bored.

We played in the street. Almost no cars at that time. Or we played in each others back gardens. What the time Mr Wolf was a big favourite. Putting on shows and charging parents to watch was another! Otherwise a lot of imaginary games

I remember it well, but whether they still do I don’t know. Gdcs still too young for such things.

One such ‘calling round’ went down in the annals in our house - my father would still laugh about it years later.

He opened the door one day to a boy of maybe 8 or 9, who asked whether my younger brother could come and play.

Since my father didn’t recognise him, he asked his name.

‘I’m BristleBonce’s bruvver.’ ?
My DF didn’t know BristleBonce either! But since DB clearly knew them both, he went to play with him anyway.

Oh yes - I had 2 friends, who lived just down the road. We used to call for each other to play ......hopscotch (drawn with chalk) , ring a ring a roses (not knowing what it signified) pretend cooking with cute little aluminium cooking pots, dress up with mum’s heels.

We played on the bomb site too and loved it. There was one at the end of a lot of roads in London. Never realised it was from an actual bomb dropping at the time, just the name for a play area!

Also went walking with my friend all day. Up across Blackheath, through Greenwich Park, under the foot tunnel to the Isle of Dogs. That was a bit of a dump then. We talked and talked, made up stories as we walked. As long as we were home for tea, that was fine. No phones, but no one worried about us. I think we had a great free and healthy childhood.

As a Primary school aged child I played in Hackney on bomb sites. Had some wonderful hiding places to put messages in these.

By secondary age I was living in Harold Hill - East London overflow estate. Here we had woods, and fields to play in. Yes, gangs of us, quite mixed ages. One time my g.parents came to visit my us - long walk from nearest station, and reported in horrified tones to my parents that they had seen me hanging upside down from a tree (not appropriate behavior for a 13-year old girl!!!!)

Great times, during school holidays we would go out early in the morning, and, except maybe for a quick trip back home for a snack and a drink, play together until dusk. Not saying we did not get into some problems and trouble, including broken bones, etc. I can remember my 14-year old 'boyfriend' teaching me how to ride a 2-wheel bike. He used his older brothers (who was away doing his national service), so, the bike was a lot too big for me. The teaching method involved going up to the top of long hill, me sitting on the bike, and him giving me a good push. Few times of this, bike was not in good repair, but I had learned how to pedal enough to keep it going!!!

For some reason the first thing that sprung to mind was taking a jam jar with a string handle to catch tadpoles! As this was not a year round hobby, I would add climbing trees, bike rides, swimming, long walks with the dogs, having ‘adventures’ (or what we thought were adventures). It does all sound a bit Enid Blyton-ish, but it really wasn’t.

I had two best friends from the age of 9 and we would play together every day. We used to spend hours playing hopscotch, rounders with other neighbours’ children, marbles, two tennis balls against the wall, statues, skipping games. As we got older we were allowed to go to the playing fields or the woods, go to the local shops or to town to do errands for our mothers, long bike rides lasting all day. When we reached the teenage years we would cut pictures out of fan magazines and make scrapbooks of all the people we liked, we learnt to jive together and went to one friend’s house to listen to the records we saved up our pocket money to buy. When my family moved away I was heartbroken but they used to come to my house for the weekend and I used to go to their house as well. The youngest of the three of us passed away at the age of 69, the second youngest passed away at the age of 74 leaving me, the oldest, with very happy memories.

I did the very same WW010.
Plus chalking on pavements and playing hopscotch and playing with marbles.
Wonderful days, can`t imagine todays children doing that.
That being said,i took 2 of my grandchildren to our local river with fishing nets and they loved it,caught a few stickle backs too.

Oh some wonderful replies! Putting on plays! Yes absolutely. One memory is when we went scrumping in an abandoned orchard. We went in the morning and spent the day eating apples and pears. At some point I heard adult voices and it was my dad looking for me. It was 7pm !!!! I’d missed my swimming club but I don’t remember him being angry. Corner shop sold 10 fruit salads or blackjacks for a penny. ?

I grew up in a deprived area and when calling for a friend I would have to knock on the door and "sing" her name. The reason was her parents wouldn't answer the door in case it was a debt collector!

We played hop scotch and skipping in the street and marbles in the gutter, would walk to nearby open countryside and spend the day there, fishing for "tiddlers" in the stream, building "forts" with any bit of wood we could find, hide and seek etc. I don't know if it was safer then but no-one worried as long as we were home in time for tea!

Franbern

As a Primary school aged child I played in Hackney on bomb sites. Had some wonderful hiding places to put messages in these.

By secondary age I was living in Harold Hill - East London overflow estate. Here we had woods, and fields to play in. Yes, gangs of us, quite mixed ages. One time my g.parents came to visit my us - long walk from nearest station, and reported in horrified tones to my parents that they had seen me hanging upside down from a tree (not appropriate behavior for a 13-year old girl!!!!)

Great times, during school holidays we would go out early in the morning, and, except maybe for a quick trip back home for a snack and a drink, play together until dusk. Not saying we did not get into some problems and trouble, including broken bones, etc. I can remember my 14-year old 'boyfriend' teaching me how to ride a 2-wheel bike. He used his older brothers (who was away doing his national service), so, the bike was a lot too big for me. The teaching method involved going up to the top of long hill, me sitting on the bike, and him giving me a good push. Few times of this, bike was not in good repair, but I had learned how to pedal enough to keep it going!!!

Severe gravel rash was always a risk ??. Limping home with bits of muck embedded in your leg wasn’t fun. Picking the scabs after was good though. (Sorry)

Such happy carefree days with no sign of a Health and Safety inspector. I was lucky enough to spend all my childhood on one of the lovely Channel Islands. My friends and I would sit on a garden wall writing down car numbers and when the chimney sweep called at one of the houses in our road, he would ask us to shout loudly when we saw his brush coming out of the chimney. Marbles, Jacks, skipping and Knitting Nancy's were popular. My Dad was a bus driver and he would bring home all his used bus tickets for me. My friends and I would play for hours making things out of them or sit on the stairs one behind the other while the 'bus driver' asked where we were going and selling us a ticket. In the summer, when we weren't at the beach we would spend ages making model gardens on an old tin tray. Children in the 50's had very little compared to today. We were good at improvising and imagining. If we didn't have the real thing, we had to pretend. Very happy times.

This brought back memories of my childhood and how fortunate I was to be able to play safely in the street doing such simple thngs.

We used to play out in our little unmade road. We had seasons for games - hopscotch, whip and top, skipping, roller skates etc. Good times we were out from dawn til dusk.

Jane43

I had two best friends from the age of 9 and we would play together every day. We used to spend hours playing hopscotch, rounders with other neighbours’ children, marbles, two tennis balls against the wall, statues, skipping games. As we got older we were allowed to go to the playing fields or the woods, go to the local shops or to town to do errands for our mothers, long bike rides lasting all day. When we reached the teenage years we would cut pictures out of fan magazines and make scrapbooks of all the people we liked, we learnt to jive together and went to one friend’s house to listen to the records we saved up our pocket money to buy. When my family moved away I was heartbroken but they used to come to my house for the weekend and I used to go to their house as well. The youngest of the three of us passed away at the age of 69, the second youngest passed away at the age of 74 leaving me, the oldest, with very happy memories.

Rounders! We lived on an estate and just above my house was a large ‘crossroads’. Not main roads of course. Every street corner was a base. All the kids from the roads around came to play.
Fan magazines!. Oh happy days. I had Paul Newman and Steve McQueen on my bedroom wall.

These days they seem to have 'play dates', arranged by their mothers. Not at all in the same spirit.

My best friend and I usually arranged things while walking home from school.

I can claim that I’ve cycled on the M1! They built it across the top of our estate. We took our bikes up and cycled for ages. I was always sooo worried though that suddenly a mass of cars would appear on the horizon! I was always a bit of a worrier. ?

Septimia

These days they seem to have 'play dates', arranged by their mothers. Not at all in the same spirit.

My best friend and I usually arranged things while walking home from school.

My friend and I used to walk home from brownies in the dark. We’d get to the top of my road where she went one way and I went another. We’d say ‘good luck’ and then leg it home as fast as possible. Phew. My hearts beating a bit faster thinking about it!

I played on bomb sites too, health and safety would of had a fit. Our local rec had a huge paddling pool we’d go up there with our lunch and stay all day till one of our Mums would come looking for us. We also collected snails in jars put a few leaves in and just watch them. The boys in the other flats would make go-karts and give us a go, ooh and those silly adjustable metal skates that always came apart when you were in full flow and you fell spectacularly, the lady on the ground floor would come out with sugar sandwiches or toffee apples for us kids. Happy days indeed.