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With the tide in or out it made no difference to us as it did not stop our fun. If
the tide was in and the Haven full we would try and skip stones along the water's surface to see who's stone went the greatest distance. Having been shown how to throw and what size stone by our parents, we would
search about until we had ones roughly the same as we had been shown and then our fun began. Getting better at throwing the stones that were of a flat nature and roughly two inches across to ones that were irregular
in shape or size and much larger. I found that as long as I used the same wrist action as when throwing, stones and rocks the size of my hand could be thrown and they would skip over the water. When the tide was
high meant that larger rocks and stones some we could only just lift but as long as they hit the water when thrown and made a splash we would count the rings that spread out from where it hit and try to better them
on the next throw but this did not always work out. Some days with the tide in the Humber was quite flat with only very small ripples on the surface, and, armed with handful's of flat stones, one after another would
be skipped out from the bank at the Point to enable us to get the stones to travel further than they would when skipped across the Haven if we were lucky.
I am unable to remember my longest set of skips no matter as no doubt that they have been beaten by later generations that used the area for playing.
Low tide always left a large strip of mud between the river bank and the water, the Haven was left only with the small outflow from the drain that passed under the bridge on Waterside Road that flowed roughly
down the middle till it neared the remains of the Railway Dock where it passed along the side of it then turned towards the East and emptied into the Humber. At the point where the outlet changed direction in the
Haven was a large flat area of mud on the opposite side that was just right for throwing stones and rocks into and many a time it would look similar to the surface of the moon due to the amount of stone
throwing. On other occasions our stones would land in the mud and the holes would fill in again as fast as they were made. This may have been because the mud had not dried out enough after a high tide
for our stones to leave the holes in it.
Swifts ... and slow!
With the sun shining and showers of rain meaning nothing to us, as we quickly found
shelter if necessary, many miles around the village were covered by most boys and some of the girls (but mainly they did their thing and we did ours) in the hope that there could be a possibility of enlarging our
collections of bird eggs. Most of the time only one egg was taken leaving the rest to hatch. I don't remember telling others where we had been lucky to find the nests and there was always someone who would swap eggs
with you for ones that you didn't have. Sometimes when we arrived back home we had no eggs with us and the time we had spent walking the paths and hedgerows and fields had been fun and had given us plenty of
exercise.
One personal bit I will add about `Bird Nesting` is that heading back along Waterside Road one day on my own I noted swallows or swifts flying in and out of the building locally known as `Pong Shop`
and carefully climbed over the barbed wire fence into the field which had cattle in it over at the far side. Keeping the building between myself and them I made my way over to the wall and carefully moving
round into the entrance and then the building where I climbed up into the roof to try and get to the nests. Once inside I had no view of the cattle that had by this time started to make their way across the field.
The next thing I knew was that the building below me was filling with them and I had no way of getting out. Not being able to get down I made myself as comfortable as I could and well out of the reach of the cattle that knew I was above them. Their pushing and milling around seemed to last for an eternity! If I shouted at them it only made them more interested in me so it was a case of sitting quietly till they lost interest. Once one started to leave it was not long before others followed. Having changed my position so that I now had a view of the cattle I waited till they were half way back across the field and then made a dash for the fence but by the time I was over it and the bridge onto the road some of the cattle had returned and were at the fence. Making my way home it was a case of Cattle and Birds 1 and Flyer 0, I never did get to the nests and had no additions to my egg collection that day.
Seasick on dry land
I was like most of the children growing up around fifty years back - the minute a
bit of blue sky could be seen or the slightest sign of the sun coming out I wanted to be off out to play. Sundays would be the day our roaming and playing around would have to wait as my brothers and I attended the
Methodist Chapel in West End for the Sunday School and other services that may have been held. This meant that we were dressed in our best clothes and freshly polished shoes, and told to keep clean! (young lads
clean?) Most of the time we may have arrived looking like a new pin but one at least of us didn't get home the same. When older I and my friends would attend the Evening Service as we would sing in the choir. Often
we had visitors in the afternoon when this was Granddad and Grannie Robinson and Uncle David. Most times this meant we could get out for a walk with David who was a bit older than us, this not only gave the grown
ups time to talk but let us loose down to the river or round the village. It was during one of their Sunday visits that a new Ice-cream van painted white and blue and a large cone of ice-cream that lit up on the
front with the name of Mr Softee started selling American soft whipped ice-cream along with toppings of different flavoured sauces, fruit salad, nuts and sprinkles along with ice lollies. There were tubs of various
sizes and prices and the same for the cones. This was a big change from the ice-cream that was sold from the Sergeants van that had been coming to the village as long as I remember or the other vender Massarellas
who I am told came from Barton upon Humber. The other source where we were able to get ice-cream for Sunday tea was from Frank Pott`s shop in High Burgage that looked to us youngsters like Aladdin's Cave as he
possibly sold everything under the sun and if he had not got it in stock he would do his best to obtain it for you. I know that many a time I was the one that went there on a Sunday for a tin of luncheon meat and a
block of the aforementioned ice-cream, the latter being wrapped in newspaper when I arrived home and then placed on the cold concrete of the pantry floor until teatime when it was divided up and placed with tinned
fruit after we had eaten our sandwiches or salad if summer time.
Another visitor was my Aunty Dorothy and Uncle Harry. This also meant that we would go for a walk. One of these family walks ended at
the point. The tide was in and ships passing up and down the river we were all enjoying our selves with the exception of my Aunt who was looking rather pale and started to rock back and forth with the movement of
the water. My Uncle had to make a grab for her as she started to lose her balance and guide her back towards where the land was wide enough not to see the water at close quarters. Later explanations revealed that my
Aunt had started to feel sea sick, as it was put, and could feel herself being drawn towards the water. After that whenever we ended down at the river and she was with us my Aunt would stay somewhere in the region
of the Railway Dock where there was more land between her and the water. She has a laugh about it now `sea sick on dry land` but at the time it was not very funny.
Secrets of staying out longer ...
Growing up found some of the children making up variations of established games, or
starting from scratch using whatever we could. A variation of hide and seek was played when the nights got darker that we called "Murder in the Dark". It was the same game but made harder to find the
persons hiding due to the darkness and it also gave them the chance of wrestling the seeker to the ground and find a new spot to hide in. I seem to remember that at one time most of those who I played with had to be
home for seven o`clock or when the street lights came on the latter used as they were set to come on at a certain time each night and then if we were not in within minutes we were in trouble unless other
arrangements had been made beforehand. As we grew older we were allowed to stay out longer but one trick we had was to arrive home about a quarter of an hour earlier than our allotted time with our friends in tow
and ask if we could have an extra half an hours playing time. Most of the time this worked and we got an extension of time and then it was to our friend's home where they would ask for more time adding that their
friends were allowed to play out until the stated times.
By rotating who's parents were asked first, it worked a treat, and we thought that we were the `bees knees` and we were away again. Other occasions we were disappointed as the answer was a firm `No` and we had wasted our playing time.
Fun and games
To become the proud owner of a set of pram wheels made our day and were quickly
turned into a trolly with a wooden box with the front cut away, fastened on to a plank at the the back to sit in, and a length of rope fastened to the moveable cross bar that held the front wheels to enable it to be
steered. The slope of Low Burgage was just one in the village that were ideal to ride your trolly down, I even used to use it to roller skate down - this being on the old four-wheeled type skates (one at each
corner) not like the ones that have their wheels inline today.
Many of the things that gave us children great pleasure cost either a few pence or were made for us by older family members.
Others we set to and fashioned ourselves. Marbles, whip and top, and conkers were what could be classed as seasonal games, but others were played all year round.
One of the toys that we were shown how to
make was from two tins that had been scrubbed clean and a long length of string. A small hole was punched into the end of each tin and one end of the string pushed into the tin through the hole and a knot tied in
the end then pulled tight, this was then repeated in the second tin. When completed you took one tin and who you were playing with at the time took the other and stretched the string out. While one held their
tin to their ear the other person spoke into their tin and could be heard at the other end and for the other person to speak the procedure was reversed. Through trial and error we found that an extra tin and string
could be added roughly half way along the main string to give a three way conversation. The use of two larger tins and string provided more fun being used as stilts. By making two holes opposite each other just
under the rim to pass the string through to make a loop that was held onto as you stood upright on the tins and allowed you to walk. While talking with my Aunt I mentioned about the tins and she straight away said
“Oh yes we used treacle tins when I was a little girl and when the string was knotted we put the lids back on.” This proves to me that some of the things we did had been done years before. Other things that where
used during the time growing up as young lads were wooden swords, bows and arrows, and sticks even became guns that were used to play out our favourite games. Split cane, paper and glue, with balls of string
made our kites. But I had almost forgotten the most important part that was
required when we were at play and that was free of charge “IMAGINATION!”
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