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Conkers

littlebabyjesus said:
Do kids still play conkers?

I really hope so.
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Apparently not. I remember taking my daughter to the park when she was primary school age and couldn't believe there were hundreds of great ones going begging. Cue a Down Memory Lane With Dad ramble, although she did pick a few up because they looked nice and one other kid at school had equally ancient parents so they gave it a go.
 
Drying out was the best non cheating way imo. I had an absolute monster that i'd left in a drawer for a whole year, it destroyed ever other conker by being unbreakable...

then m best mate who'd found a massive conker and dipped it in resin or varnish or something (who fucking knows) smashed it to bits over a long, drawn out affair :(
 
Bus Honeygun said:
Apparently not. I remember taking my daughter to the park when she was primary school age and couldn't believe there were hundreds of great ones going begging. Cue a Down Memory Lane With Dad ramble, although she did pick a few up because they looked nice and one other kid at school had equally ancient parents so they gave it a go.
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They look nice and they feel lovely in the hand. Conkers are beautiful things.

That's why you need to try to smash them into little pieces.
 
Aww I used to love conker season when I was a nipper, the only time I'd ever look forward to going into school. I also loved the whole preamble of going conkering, chucking sticks up at trees and nearly braining meself, coming home carrying the catch in my jumper. Then curing the best conkers, varnishing some, vinegaring others, or sitting a few on the storage heater for a bake. Happy fucking days. I'd love it they had a competition like that where I live.
 
I introduced a friend of mine to conkers last year. He's American, and despite the fact that he's almost 60, was completely unaware of the game, so I threaded a couple up and beat him!

Further investigation suggested that the game of conkers didn't get popular in the US, much past New England. They also had a tree disease in the late 18th century which took out most of the chestnut and horse-chestnut trees, which probably played a part.

Calling petee, have you played conkers?
 
My kids love picking conkers up but they don't seem interested in playing conkers. They're not specifically banned at school but I reckon theeir headmaster would shit a brick if any of them tried it. PArt of the problem is time though. We always seemed to have at least an hour for lunch and messing about, my kids get 15 minutes to eat and 15 minutes outside in shifts cause it's a small playground. At secondary I used to get 70 minutes for lunch (and got up to all sortrs much worse than conkers) but most secondary schools now get 30 minutes which is barely enough for lunch and a trip to the bogs.
 
littlebabyjesus said:
Do kids still play conkers?

I really hope so.
Click to expand...
I live on a busy road with a conker tree on the pavement opposite me. I remember years ago the kids used to wait for a gap in the traffic then throw sticks up at the conkers. Now the conkers are just dropping naturally and the pavement is full of them.

I walk on that pavement pretty much every day and I can't help myself, I still pick the conkers up and take them home, just to look at them while they are still shiny and beautiful.
 
Anyone remember jellies? That was what we called the conkers before they were ripe. We would climb the trees and pick the conkers early because we were too impatient, but when you opened them up the conkers where still white and they had a jelly like inside.
 
We have a massive horse chestnut in the playground at school, but the local squirrel army devour them before the kids get their hands on them . My kids have managed to get hold of a couple, but nobody knows what to do with them anymore. It got banned at school when I was a kid, due to injuries,damage/disruption as did marbles after there were four broken windows in one day during one particular craze.
 
littlebabyjesus said:
Is it?

We were obsessed with it at junior school. Soaking in vinegar, drying out in the airing cupboard. All kinds of shenanigans.
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I used to love collecting conkers, but almost never got round to actually playing them for some reason.

Rustling around the leaves with a couple of friends or my sister looking for shiny brown conkers is a pretty pleasant childhood memory. I hope it is still a thing.
 
Poor kids of today. All they have to entertain themselves is the ability to immerse themselves in photorealistic fantasy worlds, from deep space, to ancient history to takes on the present day, where they can have adventures that test their minds, reflexes and a host of skills alongside friends from next door or across the world. Whereas we were lucky enough to hit one big seed on a shoelace with another one…
 
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og ogilby said:
I live on a busy road with a conker tree on the pavement opposite me. I remember years ago the kids used to wait for a gap in the traffic then throw sticks up at the conkers. Now the conkers are just dropping naturally and the pavement is full of them.

I walk on that pavement pretty much every day and I can't help myself, I still pick the conkers up and take them home, just to look at them while they are still shiny and beautiful.
Click to expand...

I think they're beautiful too. I love horse chestnut trees, they're a beautiful shape and look fabulous when they're in bloom.
 
Another memory is finding a massive cheggie still in it's shell and getting really excited hoping for a huge cheggie inside, only to find, once opened, two average sized cheggies side by side.:(

double-conker-horse-chestnut-R6211M.jpg
 
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