...never mind the weather girls... is a skipping song. And the reason why I have been a bit absent from here as I have been involved in a local oral history project and interviewing people who have lived all their lives in the area since the 1930s. Meeting and hearing the stories from such lovely people has been a great privilege, and a wonderful experience as the streets around me have come alive with layers of history and stories. Here's one for now, as I must get back to cutting, sewing and stitching for Handmade Winchester this weekend....
"Two of the mum’s would take down a washing line that went the whole length of their garden and one mum would stand on one side of the road and the other on the opposite side. And one would start and call ‘all in together girls, never mind the weather girls’ and the whole while the rope was tuning. We would all jump in. Until we were all in, seven or even ten girls."
(Photo by Kryn Taconis)All in together girls
Never mind the weather girls
When I call your birthday, please jump in!
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December!
Do you remember any games from your childhood? What about French skipping with a loop of elastic? Or playing ball against a wall? Do you remember the chants that went with them?
15 comments:
Elastics! Tried to remember this with a friend's 8 year old last year. Also cat's cradle.
He he we used to play elastic. We did thighsys, kneesys, shinseys, ankleseys and so on for how high up the leg you had the elastic. We then did sidesys doing all of the above and then one legsys doing all of the above. Our rhyme if i remember was shingle, shangle, centre, spangles, shingle, shangle out - The there was something about crossing it over or under the other elastic but I can't remember that. What a blast from the past - I am now feeling old :)
Ooh that takes me back. They teach cats cradle & skipping at my childrens school! How may kids these days get the opportunity to do cats cradle?
I loved french skipping - but it didn't love me as all my friends were a lot taller & I only had short legs... I never got very far - LOL!
I'd forgotten all about elastics. I was never allowed to be one of the elastic 'holders' though cos I was really tall so my kneesys were another girl's thighsys!
What about hopscotch? I used to love drawing those grids on the pavement with a chunk of rock - no fancy chalk for us 70's kids you know!
Thanks for all your lovely comments - and the words! I remember standing with my feet under one side of the elastic and then jumping over the other elastic, bringing the elastic with me - not sure what happened next! It was a tricky move! Which part of the country was your rhyme from Beadypool? And chalk in the garden used to be really common, not in London no, but maybe I'm not looking.
I loved skipping but can't for the life of me remember the songs. There was one about Korky the cat or something like that. Did anyone put a tennis ball in an old pair of tights and bang it against the wall in a variety of intricate manoeuvres? And clackers - loved em but they're banned due to their ability to cause very nasty damage.
I remeber two ball against a wall; one two three and an upsy/dropsy/pearly pecker four five six and an upsy seven eight nine and an upsy upsy. (get mum to show you at the do- she's good but I think Aunte Barbara was better!) I also remeber a ball of a plastic line with a loop you swung around your ankle and jumped over the ball with your other foot.They were a few quid in the shops so Dad made me one with baler twine and a tennis ball. I nearly amputated my own foot because the twine cut in!! Happy days. xx
I loved skipping games, but have forgotten all the rhymes. We have a book of childhood playground games and the ryhme I've taught my girls is I had an Auntie Nellie/
Who had a wooden belly,/ And when I touched it/ Out popped jelly.
Used to love the excitement of What's the Time Mr Wolf? too.
Lisa x
I love the photo of all the girls jumping in the air. Makes me want to go get my skipping rope.
It's lovely to hear all your memories. I remember the ball on a loop round your ankle too - hours of fun!
hey I am 69 years old and for some bizzare reason I woke up this morning with a skipping rhyme in my head. It obviously dated form WW2. (I am too old for elastics) so I was Googling for the whole rhyme when ! found your blog. My rhyme went like this
down in the jungle
what you think we did
bought a pair of nylons
-------5 quid
anyone else remember this?
Hi, thanks for sharing your skipping rhyme! I've not heard that before, so it's good to hear! The rhymes do seem to vary from region to region, there are lots of examples in the Iona and Robert Opie books. Many thanks!
Hi I remeber playing elastics we used to say:
England, Ireland Scotland, Wales, Inside, Outside, Inside, Scales.
it was great fun I have just taught my daughter who has gotten all the girls are school playing it now!
Thank you so much for these memories. My daughter who is 11 is currently doing WW2, for her school project and she has chosen Homelife and childhood for her project. She has found this blog entry and comments so usful in helping her with her "games and toys" section.
Thank you again and if anyone has anything else they could share I know Ella would be very grateful
Cass
another skupping rhyme
Ah white's ginger beer
Goes off POP
There's a penny on the bottle if you take it to the shop.
at the word POP the rest is skipped as "bumps"or "peppers" (i.e two spins of the rope for each jump)
I guess everybody did the pepper count with
"SALT MUSTARD VIMEGAR PEPPER"
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