Conkers

[Keith at Tregenna]

‘Set within the picturesque county of Northamptonshire, the World Conker
Championships takes place each year on the 2nd Sunday of October, in the
beautiful village of Southwick near Oundle.

This year: Sunday 13 October

K.

[John F Collier]

OMG, do the OHS people know about this practice.
I am sure if they could it would be made illegal by them.

But of course few younger generation ones to day would know how such simple forms of entertainment kept us going.

Bake the Conker in vinegar in the oven when mum is not around, makes them last all season, or so we thought.

But life was simple then, none of the modern day concerns and we were happy lads...and lasses.

A while ago I was browsing my old Junior school website, mostly it was pupils from the 70s and 80s trying to make contact with their
old school friends, I pushed on scrolling back in time and suddenly I was looking at my 1949 class photo just before I moved on to the
Senior school. It brought back so many memories just looking at my old classmates. I think in those days we had more freedom to roam,
one thing I always enjoyed is fishing and used to go miles on my old bike to my favourite places, whenever I did that I liked to be alone
and explore, always looking for new places to fish, some places were quite isolated and just large ponds really but I always felt safe in what
I did, sadly I don't think today's kids have that freedom anymore as the environment was so much safer in those days and a lot more law
abiding people around than we have today, so today's kids may have more than us in some ways, but they have a lot less in other ways. cheers '

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi John.
Glad to hear that you was able to find your old school pictures etc, I tried last year to contact my old school, but to no avail, maybe they thought it was a dirty old man after the kids.
Des

[John F Collier]

Hi John.
Glad to hear that you was able to find your old school pictures etc, I tried last year to contact my old school, but to no avail, maybe they thought it was a dirty old man after the kids.
Des

Unfortunately that is the way of it today Des, all I did was Googled my old Junior school's name and a lot of stuff came up including the
website for ex pupils, seems I was free to brows but I never made any attempt to contact them., it's a shame you had no joy maybe it's
worth another approach you never know what you may find, yep that picture was pure luck and priceless to me, apart from the kids there
was my old headmaster and two teachers that I remember very well for different reasons, Mr Stevens was a white haired kindly old boy and
well liked, the other one was much younger and he was a disciplinarian also a 1st class sadistic sod, for the slightest reason he would
call you out and make you bend over his desk then pull up the back of your trouser leg and use a PT slipper sharp and hard, trust me
that hurts more than the cane ever did, then you had to make it back to your desk in front of the class with a stiff upper lip, but thinking
on it now, it was another lesson to learn from. cheers

[Keith at Tregenna]

Perhaps they were playing Conkers in 1275, but no-one wrote about it.

There are references in Robert Southeys memoirs published in 1821 to early games similar to Conkers being played with Snail Shells or Hazelnuts, but the first recorded game using Horse Chestnuts is in 1848 on the Isle of Wight. The game spread gradually throughout Britain during the next hundred years.


The History of Conkers - Rotary Club of Ilkley Wharfedale

[Des Taff Jenkins]

HI John.
I doubt they would be allowed to do to the kids today that they did to us in the name of discipline, there again with the number of kids carrying knives it would be foolish. I don't think it did me much harm, helped when I went to the Vindi.
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

Keith, that article is very interesting.
Yes man has some questions to answer regarding part of what is occurring.
But there is also the question of natural selection.

Over the eons there have been species come and go.
Different condition, disease, natural disasters, wars and many other events have changed the world.

Dinasours came and went as did the Mammoth and Saber toothed Tiger, here in Oz the Tasmanian Tiger only a few years back in about 1936.
But at the same time new species are also being found.
Here in Queensland about a dozen new spiders have been found.

Changing world, that has done so since it began.

[Keith at Tregenna]

Talking Conkers: It wasn’t until the 19th century that the horse chestnut fruits – the conkers – were recorded as being used for the game of conkers, on the Isle of Wight in 1848. After the 1850’s, the use of horse chestnuts to play the game was referred to in various regions of the country. From that time on, the game’s popularity grew and spread throughout Britain.

Not as old as dino etc.

https://iwradio.co.uk/2016/10/17/con...-be-dying-out/

[John F Collier]

HI John.
I doubt they would be allowed to do to the kids today that they did to us in the name of discipline, there again with the number of kids carrying knives it would be foolish. I don't think it did me much harm, helped when I went to the Vindi.
Des

Can only agree with that Des, just before leaving school in 54 I actually witnessed the boy sitting in front of me attempted to stab the PT teacher
'Mr Ellis' who was a young man and very agile, the boy had a sheaf knife and thrust it at the teachers stomach, he sidestepped the knife which
ripped open the lining of his jacket, and in a flash Ellis knocked him out cold with a perfect left cross, he stooped down and grabbed the collar
of the kids jacket and literally dragged him out of the classroom, never saw him again but heard he was sent to Borstal. Whatever the Generation
there will always be good and bad but I've always thought that growing up in the war years and post war years our Generation were mostly well
prepared for our adult lives as we learned some good lessons from our experiences. cheers

[Keith at Tregenna]

How To Play Conkers!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLGuZZraIqg