Lauren Owens interviewed her Grandmother who was born in Belfast in the 1920s She began by describing some special toys. Her uncle, who worked as an upholsterer, made a child-sized sofa and chair for her to play with. When the weather was good she took them out into the street to play houses with her friends.They did not have gardens to play in. Her father was good at woodwork and made a doll's house for her. Gran's interest in dolls' houses has started again now that I have one completed and one under construction.  She played games on the street. One of these games was called peerie and whip. To play this you needed a specially shaped piece of wood, the peerie and a stick with a length of cord attached. The cord was wound around the narrow part of the peerie which was then placed on the ground. By pulling the stick away quickly the unwinding cord would start the peerie spinning. You then had to follow the peerie hitting it with the cord to keep it spinning. The aim was to make it travel as far as possible. She played a game called piggy. The piggy was a small piece of wood which was pointed at both ends. First, with the piggy on the ground, you hit it hard with a stick to get it into the air. Once it was in the air you would hit it again and see how far it would go. She played hopscotch and skipping which are still popular.  One game that I envied was swinging on the lamp-post. A circle of rope was looped around a lamp-post. When the loop was tightened high up the post you could open the bottom of the loop to make a seat. Pushing your foot against the lamp-post you could get a good circular swing until the rope was wound quite tight. Then you would swing back again. When a policeman appeared you had to be quick, take your rope and run for it.  She also played another game called "kick the tin". This was played with a shoe polish tin on a hopscotch grid. Hopping on one foot you had to use your other foot to kick the tin in turn through the numbers 1 to 10 in the grid. If you put your 'kicking' foot down or missed one of the numbers you were 'out'.  Gran was one of a large family. She had four sisters and one brother. She doesn't remember reading books or comics. In the evenings at home they listened to the radio or played records. Just to relieve boredom one sister enjoyed teasing another and many arguments occurred. Sometimes these got a little out of hand. They are still at it. Two of them argued at our house at Christmas time about things that happened way back then. It was funny!  As a teenager Gran went to dances with her parents in the local hall where she danced with her dad. She went to tap dancing classes and had a special costume. Mum still has the top hat which Gran wore. When she met Granda he didn't like to dance so they went to the pictures about three times a week. Her favourite actor was Boris Karloff. She liked action films but didn't like love stories. Granda's favourite leisure activities were football and racing pigeons.  Gran remembers the Coronation. It was the first thing she watched on television. A lady who lived at the top of their street had a T.V. and neighbours gathered to watch the Coronation. There were parties in the streets with games, lemonade, buns and paper hats. The older children were given Coronation tumblers and the younger were given beakers. My aunt still has her tumbler. It is made of blue glass and has a coat of arms and the date 2nd June 1953. After the Coronation the Queen and Prince Philip came to Belfast for a special celebration at Belfast City Hall and my Great Grandparents were invited. Gran still has the invitation.   Next she interviewed her Mother who grew up in Belfast. She has very happy memories of her childhood. They played many street games which have become popular again in recent years such as "Queenio", "Can't cross the Red Sea" and "Red Rover". She had more toys than Gran would have had but not very many by today's standards. Favourites were a scooter and roller skates and she was lucky enough to live on a hill. Mum remembers the bicycle which they had when she was about 9 or 10. It was a three wheeler and was very easy to ride. She doesn't remember what happened to it and has never seen another similar bike. As a younger child she had a doll's pram which was a miniature version of the large Silver-cross prams which were the usual transport for babies . One unusual toy was a 'working' child's cooker. There was a little saucepan and you could actually heat water in it. It worked by burning a tiny amount of methylated spirits. Mum was only allowed to use it if her Mum was nearby to watch. She says that such a toy would not be allowed today. Mum has one sister and three brothers. They played board games of snakes and ladders, ludo and draughts. Mum really enjoyed playing with her younger brother's Meccano set. She liked making moving models. I think she was a bit of a tomboy. They all got weekly comics, beginning with the Dandy and the Beano. As they grew older these comics passed to her brothers and the girls got the Schoolfriend and the Bunty. Later she remembers one called the Jackie. It would have been read by young teenagers but Mum says that it was nothing like the magazines of today. They did not have a television until Mum was seven and all T.V.s then had a black and white picture. She remembers the excitement of the reports of rockets launched into space and in particular the first astronaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961. She says that T.V. reports of President Kennedy's assassination in 1963 stunned the world. Popular T.V. programmes about cowboys and indians were great favourites in their house. Things like "Tenderfoot" and "Wagon Train". "Champion the Wonder Horse", "The Lone Ranger" and "Robin Hood" were on children's T.V. "Dr Who" became popular and she remembers a younger brother hiding behind a chair when the Daleks appeared. Playtime for her brothers and their friends often involved cowboys and indians and their Dad made them a toy fort. They were able to have pretend battles with the toy figures of cowboys and indians. I suppose that was a boys' version of a dolls' house. Social activities revolved around the local church with youth clubs, badminton clubs, Guiding and Scouting organisations for various ages and occasional, but very popular, barn dances. For a time teenage outings to the pictures on Saturday afternoons were frequent but the only picture she recalls is "Derby O'Gill and the Little People". In the sixties Mum was a great fan of the Beatles and went to see them at the King's Hall. She was really disappointed. It was very crowded and the fans screamed so much that she could not hear the music. She remained a Beatles fan but never went to another pop concert.  Finally Lauren interviewed her Father to see what life was like in the country.  He was born in 1927 in a rural area of County Fermanagh. He was the youngest of a large family who lived on a medium sized farm. Dad remembers his childhood and the many games and pastimes in which he took part. He really enjoyed football and practised a lot. He played for his local team and was captain for quite some time.He attended a small local Primary School with just twenty pupils and one teacher. Most of the pupils came from nearby farms and some of their games reminded one of farming. Sports days were a special occasion. Apart from the usual speed, egg and spoon and sack races various donkey races were included. The most difficult of these required two children sitting back to back mounted on each donkey. Both had to remain on the donkey's back until it passed the winning post. A tug-of-war was also popular between two mixed teams of children. One unusual contest was called "clamping". All pupils attending the small school had to bring some turf for heating the school. The turf was arranged in a large stack close to the school. On sports day a large part of the stack was scattered and the children had to quickly gather the turf and rebuild them into structures called turf clamps. The pupil who built the neatest and sturdiest clamp won.  Whippet racing was enjoyed by both children and adults. Many families kept whippets, a greyhound type dog but smaller. The whippets would be lined up at the end of the sports field by the boys and girls. The dogs would be shown a dummy hare which would then be taken to the other end of the field. The whippets would be released and race to catch the hare. Only the boys took part in "rabbit holing". In the 1930s and 40s many young boys in the country kept ferrets which were used for chasing rabbits. There were a lot of rabbits and farmers didn't like them as they ate the crops and the rabbit holes could injury the cattle. At a fixed time and place boys would gather with their ferrets which were sometimes carried in trouser pockets. Each boy would select a rabbit hole and on a given signal would place the ferret in the hole. The winning ferret was the one who chased out the greatest number of rabbits. A good ferret would be valuable for a boy especially during the war years, when townspeople paid good money for rabbits. During the summer months swimming was popular with boys and girls. They would gather at a wide part of the local river and divide into teams. The good swimmers would race across a deep part of the river and the others would have wading races in a shallower place. Some preferred to fish rather than swim. Boys liked to play " pitch" which involved throwing horse shoes at an upright stake. Older boys who were lucky enough to have pocket money played "pitch and toss". From a given distance they had to pitch coins into a circle marked on the ground. The coins which landed inside the circle would be tossed in the air by their owners and kept if they turned up heads. Those that showed tails were tossed by the other players. In the country children were encouraged to learn to dance and to play a musical instrument . The names of some of the dances are "The walls of Limerick", " The waves of Tory", "The soldiers' joy" and " The sailors hornpipe". Dancing was a favourite pastime in the winter evenings, as was storytelling. Young adults would gather in someone's home and pass the time by telling stories, playing cards, making music and dancing. This was called "ceilidhing" and they would go to different houses on different nights. The "black-out" regulations of the war years stopped many a night of "ceilidhing". In those days a favourite character was Rupert Bear. Roy Rodgers and his horse Trigger were their favourite film stars. The nearest picture house was in Enniskillen but children would only be taken there on very special occasions as it cost four old pennies which was quite expensive then. During the war years of 1939-45 leisure activities were confined to daylight hours. After dark all lights had to be completely blacked out. Even the light from a bicycle lamp had to be so arranged that it could not be seen from the air. This made it difficult for people to move around after dark so dances were held in the church halls in the summer evenings while in the winter evenings people stayed at home. They read books or newspapers and listened to the wireless. Gracie Fields and Marlene Dietrich were popular entertainers and the wartime news broadcasts were all listened to. When the war ended country people celebrated by removing the black-out material from their windows and displaying as many lights as they could. Prayers of thanksgiving were offered that peace had arrived. It was hoped that rationing would soon cease and food would be plentiful again.  It's nice to think that children long ago played games that we still play today. I would like to try some of the games which were described to me.   Another Story Return to Competition