Middlesbrough Remembered
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Excuse me but where is Middlesbrough?
Walk from North Ormesby
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Only a Short Time in History
Memories of Parliament Road
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Don't Mention the War?
Laws Street Block
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Albert Park and 'Owld 'Enry
An Ayresome Childhood
Street Games
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Victoria St/Greta St Now
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Closing of St Paul's School
Ayresome School
More Memories of Parliament Rd.
Round and About King George Street
Cinemas
Tees Poem
Middlesbrough Welsh
Memories of Duncombe Street
Honeymans of Cannon Street
Marilyn's Memories
Sun Sea & Sand
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Why DOGGY Town??
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Memories of St Paul's
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The Games we played
Kids these days eh? All vidyos an’ DVDs an’ the interweb an’ that, an’ ther still bored. So on Satder when Our lass went down the Lidl, an’ Aa got landed with’em, Aa took ‘em out ter play some real games, y’know, like kerby, kickyballspyo, alleys, beck-jumpin an’chicken.
(Teesside Tommy’s Soap Box Evening Gazette 7th July 2003)
I suppose it's always the way for the older generations to complain that the youngsters never match up to the way we were when we were kids. But we did seem able always to entertain ourselves. Street games came round in seasons. We'd all be spinning tops and then it would be time to switch to another game like checks. Who decided when one season ended and another began? The shops always knew because they always had the appropriate goods available at the right time!
Any road up..can you remember the details/rules of a street game? Use the email form to send in your account and it'll go on this page. |
Cannon
Mike Guess (North Ormesby & Netherfields)
We used to play cannon, with a tin with sticks on the top. We'd have two teams either side of the road with the tin in the middle of the road. We threw a tennis ball at the tin.When the tin was knocked over, the team that
knocked it over ran away and hid.If you could get back and stand the tin up with the sticks on without getting smacked with the ball by the other team you won !
Why was it called 'Cannon'????
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Richard writes:-
The game was called Cannon because we had to try and get the sticks (or split clothes pegs nicked from Mams washing line) ON to the tin CAN - hence CAN-ON. I think...
The variation we used to play was with a tin can in the centre of the street inside a small chalked circle. Then 4 clothes pegs were laid on top in a noughts and crosses formation. Two teams stood on each kerb and a team member from each took turns to lob a tennis ball, from head height, at the can. The aim was to scatter the can and pegs out of the circle (but not too far).
The team that managed to hit the can would scatter and become RUNNERS. The opposition team became CHASERS. The object for the runners was to get the can back into the circle with the pegs on top in the correct noughts and crosses layout. The object for the chasers was to hit each runner with the tennis ball and get them out.
The game worked particularly well if the runners remembered to split up and move to each end of the street. There was no out-of-bounds. The chasers could not move when in possession of the ball and this was an important rule. Chasers without the ball could move but when the ball was passed to them they had to stop. As chasers hunted the runners up one side of the street, runners from the other side would close in on the can and attempt to reset it so the chasers had to leave a man guarding the can.
The game was great for learning risk taking, evasion, teamwork, communication, leadership and strategy skills. We had games that could last for hours and, as we grew and could throw further and more accurately, the area of the game expanded. The game ended if the runners were all struck out or if the runners managed to rebuild the can and pegs and yell out CANNON!
(Richard signed off "memories!" I wish my memory was half as good as his! )
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Tee-Mac
T.J.Wood, Park End
You split into two teams. One team had to chase and catch the other. You captured them by touching them on the head and shouting"Tee-mac". (They always used to argue you hadn't properly touched them on the head!) The catchers had to have a bay to keep the ‘prisoners in’ and , at least, one of the catchers had to stand guard on them. If someone from the team being chased could get into the bay without being tee-macked by the guard all the prisoners were set free. You won when you caught everybody then the teams swapped over so now the chasers were the ones being chased. It was a great game. Truth was it was a good excuse for smacking people round the head!
Angela P
When we played this game in Thornaby it was called Tee-Mac, Tee-Allio unless this was a merging of two games I am unsure, but it meant to play the game described except the person who got into the pen to free every one said "Tee-Allio".
Mike R
In Tilery Road School, Stockton, this game was called tee mac aalyo. This, as far as I know, was a corruption of the old hunting call tally ho!
John M
Im 53 now and lived in Bargate Street in the 1960's. I remember playing tee-mac at school and recall a rule of the game:
If a member of the team being chased had his hand on his head, then he could not
be taken prisoner. So when he was caught, there was a struggle to get his hand off his head so that the pursuer could put his hand on it and hence take him prisoner.
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Queenie Queenie
We used to play a game called Queenie, Queenie who's got the ball. The next line was I haven't got it, it isn't in my pocket. There may have been more to the song than this.
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This is how I remember it, one kid stood at the wall of a house, head resting on arms so they couldn't see. One of the other kids threw a tennis ball was at the house wall, and another caught it. After a count of ten the kid at the wall turned round, and the other kids sang the song.
The kid who was on (at the wall), had to ask questions of the other kids, and try to deduce who had the ball, which was held behind someone's back. The rest, sadly, I can't remember, anyone help out?
Handstands
I also remember the girls used to tuck their dresses in their knickers, ( so the lads couldn't see anything), and do handstands on the wall.
Paper Chase
We also played paper chase where clues were written on bits of paper, and put in cracks in the mortar of houses. Again, I can't remember the specifics.
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