Games to play on Kenton Bar
Not sure if I mentioned this before but the estate offered a number of places to play games and have general fun:-
Anyone think of any more?
- Pyramid bank - slalom skateboarding
- Pyramid blue tiled area - freestyle skateboarding
- Ryal Walk -downhill racing on skateboard or bicycle
- Tarmac area below shops - football and tag
- Everywhere - hide and seek
- Everywhere - stunt cycling and speed cycle races
Anyone think of any more?
I used to play with my toy soldiers in the 'ha ha' ditch that went round the school... You could get under it via a hole that had been excavated from directly opposite the Hartburn Walk/Studdon Walk junction which led to the north facing school fence(the only junction fitting this description)
ReplyDeleteWhy this was I have no idea-maybe because the terrain surrounding the hole was desert like(no grass) due to incursions by kids wanting to access the field to play football and maybe my toy soldiers were british desert rats and german afrika korps...I cant remember I tell you, but I remember this ha ha ha!
A friend of mine suggested the following-
ReplyDelete"Some tough nuts hung around The Pyramid after dark,they would hurl abuse and swear............and that was the girls!
I moved to Kenton in 1971 so i'm sure it was vandalised by then."
(By vandalised, I think he means no longer cascading water).
ReplyDeleteI used to shoot at anything that moved in the back garden out of my bedroom window with a Diana SP50 0.177 slug gun - does that count as a passtime?
ReplyDeleteAlas no master...this falls into the auspice of mindless hooliganism...
ReplyDeleteSo - in your warped thinking Mensforth that would totally rule out setting fire to the cornfield just to see the fireman come and setting traps for unsuspecting workers returning from toil or throwing bangers in the flats? You are NO FUN.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it rules out home made flamethrowers as well.
ReplyDeleteyou three should join the army...we need you out in Afghanistan...
ReplyDeletesmashing crates of milk bottles on the back wall of the YWCA? - I'll get me coat.............
ReplyDeleteI remember one night I was up on the plateau at midnight with my telescope studying the constellation of camelopardalis for my cub scout 'astonomy' badge and noticed some ruffians from down the bottom were camping out below the plateau...they went to the top of Ryal Walk and I heard them talking of playing a 'game' called 'back creep' down the back gardens facing the field...I adopted the pose of a step pyramid(I had been trained in SAS type camouflage technices at 9th Gosforth Cubscout and instantly became invisible...I watched these fell creatures then commence 'creeping 'through the gardens down the back of Ryal Walk electric type house...
ReplyDeleteapparently (I subsequently discovered) the idea was to creep through as many back gardens without incurring the wrath and discovery of the householder...more, as they crept down adrenalin took hold and the pack of mongol hordes would end up running and galloping hell for leather over fences/through gardens...some fell victim to garrotting via washing line...
It was horrible and frightening... :( but apparently a 'game' to those bounders from the bottom of the estate...how stupid...
There was a kid who's name I will not mention who lived in the split levels at Hazeley Way who played a game...the game was called 'busball'...
ReplyDeleteThis fellow would stand in the street doing 'keepy ups' with a ball etc...but what he was waiting for was the number 8 bus lumbering up Hazeldene Ave...at just the right moment as the bus passed the street, he would sudddenly stop 'keepyuping' the ball and half volley/hoof the ball at the downstairs windows of the passing number 8 KASHTOOOOOOMPHMPH!!!!!!...the ball would hit the windows and bounce back, him then trapping the said ball most expertly, laughing...why was he laughing?...because he had scared an OAP near to death(the ball hitting the window where the OAP was sitting) and could see the fear and trepidation and shock caused by the ball hitting the window where the OAP was sitting...I know this because, after observing him doing this ghastly deed on several occasions I asked him why he always aimed at the bottom deck of the bus, and not the top...he told me it was because 'the old people sat downstairs'...shocking eh?...the young swine...hmmm...
The BEST place for snowy fun was at the corner of the school field at the edge of the plateau where the field/plateau met with the fence at marking the boundary between the back gardens of the houses on Ryal Walk at the top of the estate. Reasons:-
ReplyDeleteThe plateau was steep and there was a kind of a left hand bank at the bottom. If one was skillful and ... See morethe surface had been prepared properly i.e. the surface was smooth as ice and hard as nails from repeated sliding attempts one could start at the top of the plateau on ones "honkers" and slide/skate all the way to the bottom just using the hands for guudance - no need for bin bag or sled - just a nice pair of smooth soled shoes and a pair of gloves. On other advantage is that the area was effectively floodlit by one of the streetlamps on the estate so skating/sliding could go on well into the late evening.
facebook comment(tuggy on pyry!):
ReplyDeleteNeil Joyce in the summer the pyrie was a always covered in tar, tuggie on all four sides and not aloud to touch the ground. I was stood on top of the pyrie with just the peak between my feet, i loved the pyrie.
Just remembered another 'game'... anyone remember the lolly stick game by which you had to find a lolly stick(an ice lolly stick,not a sweet type lolly stick-not difficult as they were lying all over the place on the estate...)and then had to try to 'smash' the lolly stick of your opponent(who on defence was holding it horizontal at either end betwixt thumb, 3rd and 4th finger with the flat area facing to heaven...while you took your turn on offence you were only allowed to bridge also using 3rd/4th and thumb...the flat area of the stick had to face horizontal so the edge which hit the opponents stick was the thin side if you know what I mean....each person took a turn until someone's lolly was smashed to smitherines...the victor's lolly became a '2er' and subsequent victories were added to the stick...now if you say managed to smash a say '5er' then this was added to your stick, so if say your stick was a '3er' and you smashed a '5er' then your stick became an '8er'! get it? bit like conkers...practical maths eh? ha ha!
ReplyDeleteOne of the games I remember us playing we 'British Bulldog' This was on the field at the bottom of thirston way. You had one unlucky chap who was the the man in the middle and all the rest of the chaps (normally about 10 others) would stand at one end of the field. They would line up and give themselves numbers and the chap in the middle who had his back turned would call a number out. The person with this number would then try to reach the other end of the field without being tagged or wresstled to the floor. If he got to the otherside without getting caught then the rest of the chaps would then charge all together to get to the other side. This was done until there was only one chap at the end of the field trying to get to the other end without being kicked to within an inch of his life. We used to play it for hours.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this memory Sir Kev!
ReplyDeleteWikipedia has a very interesting synopsis of the game of British Bulldog(link here-copy & paste)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_bulldogs_%28game%29
My recollection of the game is that you had to hold the runner and say'1,2,3 british bulldog'whilst 'patting'(whacking) him/her on the head to make him/her caught...(mutley dog laugh...)
My recollection of the game was that you had to have a live bulldog that had not been fed for a number of day. The said dog was then released and ran after the "kids" the slowest of which would promptly be eaten on capture. No more of this other nonsense.
ReplyDeletewot about making 'scotch arrows' using a stick, beermat and string and hoying them miles up in the air on kenton school field?
ReplyDeleteremember how to make em?I do!