Figure 1.--We had a nice back garden. As younger children it was a wonderful place to play. In our surburban neighborhood we all had similar back gardens and we were out an in each others gardens. Here is a typical scene where friends from the street came round and we were all playing in the garden. Note my brother Michael in his football uniform. He wa mad about football. I'm the one towards the back (as usual!) in the horizontal stripey T-shirt. Click on the image to see a wider view to get a better idea of our neigborhood.

We had a nice back garden. American would say a back yard, but we would never call it a yard! As younger children it was a wonderful place to play. In our surburban neighborhood we all had similar back gardens and we were out an in each others gardens. Some parents were more fussy than others about their back gardens. Some were serious gardners. Others were more willing to make allounces for children. Having four boys, I supose our parents bowed to the inevitable. Here is a typical scene where friends from the street came round and we were all playing in the garden. I'm the one towards the back (as usual!) in the horizontal stripey T-shirt. I think this was a "statues" game, where one person stood one end of the garden and turned his back.

Our Back Garden

We had a nice back garden. American would say a back yard, but we would never call it a yard! As younger children it was a wonderful place to play. In our surburban neighborhood we all had similar back gardens and we were out an in each others gardens. Some parents were more fussy than others about their back gardens. Some were serious gardners. Others were more willing to make allounces for children. Having four boys, I supose our parents bowed to the inevitable. Our gardn was 100ft long. 3/4 was lawn and flower beds and a shed with dad's tools in, then there was a trellis and gate (not sure how you spell trellis actually!) and beyond that the "bottom end". Loads of people did that with their gardens. The bottom end was for growing vegetables or just used basically as a bit of a scruffy area, the place to have bonfires (on Guy Fawkes Day of course) and so on.

Back Garden Play

Here is a typical scene where friends from the street came round and we were all playing in the garden. I'm the one towards the back (as usual!) in the horizontal stripey T-shirt. I'm NEAR the back, furthest left. Red & white horizontal stripes and white shorts. Tha's Andrew in the front ... the same one who was wearing shorts in the pop idol picture!

Statutes

I think this was a "statues" game, where one person stood one end of the garden and turned his back (figure 1). We had to move forwards and if he turned round he wasn't allowed to see us moving. If he did, he'd send whoever was moving back to th start again. The winnder was the first person to reach the end. This is a game still very common in schools and cub groups. Sometimes it's played in the dark. The person who is on is blindfolded and slowly moves a torch round the room. If the torch hits someone, they have to go and start again. It has to be done with adults watching to check who gets hit by the torch. The players have to be VERY quiet, or the person who's blindfolded can hear them and points the torch at them.

Olympic Games

We would sometimes stage Olympic events. There is a family snap shot of us in the back garden after we'd moved. It pictures lots of friends dressed in blue. It must have been during a break in the activities. I am there and looking scruffy again! On that occasion, a lot of my friends had come round for a mini Olympics-type afternoon with me and my brothers. Seems they all managed to find blue PE kits to wear and I didn't for some reason ... but then I was never really interested in sports. Maybe they were all Chelsea supporters!

Model Airplanes

We also liked to make model airplanes. Some of my friends like the plastic model kits that were more for show. I liked to make the balsa wood type you could fly. Our back garden was a bit small for that. There was a park near home where we would sometimes fly our planes. It was Cranford Park near Heathrow Airport which seemed appropriate for flying models. Here I am with friends and a cousin after school.

Author: Jonathan

Created: 2:03 AM 9/16/2005
Last updated: 12:41 AM 10/3/2005