I have a great many memories playing games while growing up in Glasgow from the early 60s, including:

> keepie uppie headers with a big old leather football.

> kerby, possibly one of the most under-rated street ball game ever, requiring, skill, dexterity, patience and a keen eye for approaching motor vechiles.

> hula hoop, which would now come in handy for getting rid of the dreaded, but omnipresent, beer belly.

> rounders in the street, or, if we were good and didn'y have to go for the cross-country run, in the school playground.

> street tennis, whenever there was a hint of Wimbledon in the air - not nets required of course, just a chalk mark!

> the bouncy rubber ball game which started ith the song "Over the mountain and under the sea, that's where my true love is waiting for me..."

> chap-door-run-away, aka the chicken run, where you would go to the tenement landing and rattle the letterbox an if you weren't fast enough you would get caught and cuffed round the ear by people reacting to the chapping-and-running from the other landings.

> tigg, where whoever was touched was 'het' and would involve large numbers of kids running in any place the game took you - back closes, tenement landing, streets, etc. - and the object of the game was to touch someone shout "yer het" and run away then that unfortunate outcast would try and catch someone else and pass the het on - could often last for hours.

> hide-and-seek (with and without the thumbs up 'keyses' get out) hardly needs any explaining as it is a rite of passage for all Glasgow kids, there are numerous versions of the simple concept of catching those in hiding, including "two man hunt" and "kick the can".

A gem everyone of them and not a penny spent!!!

TBM.

thanks for the memories and some great times a had aswell what tresures and not ta playstation in sight just good fresh air in your lungs and no wantin to go in for a pee incase you never got oot again memories right enough

theres not enough kids out playing street games, instead of using there brains to enjoy themselves there out shaking lamp post till they fall n smash and show their artistic talents on ure close walls lol....... they need encouragment and i love kirbie great game xx kaz xx

lol@karyn

anyone mind o a game whurr many went tae hide in an alotted radius & wan went back tae give clues tae help where others went generally withoot the show gied away,a min the directions would be said 'up a bar of chocolate alang a bar of chocolate Aroon 2 bars of chocolate does anywan mind o it? or am a daft jist dreaming everywan was talking aboot chocolate hahaha I was reading in Georgias book aboot the monkey bars really a handrail up a hill or something well the lassies used tae learn thurr twirls & hung upside doon way wan leg etc we had that near us where thurr wurr hunners o weans awe practicing fuur hours oan end tae be the best haha.

when we were small and living in the great maryhill i can still remember playing hide and go seek, we would be up the back road hiding and looking for a bad guy by the name of yella doney, we never found him or even had a glance of him so to this day i still dont know if yella doney was a real person or a fictional character - - yella yi oot there

TBM I think I played every one of those games you mentioned , could never get the kerby right though

I have just joined and had such a good laugh recalling all these games mentioned. I grew up in Maryhill and played kick the can or buckety buck buck as we used to call it. You had to go to the midden to find a can and would come out covered in ashes.

We played all our games in the street, especially rounders and all the stanks in the street were the dults. [Where did that word dults come from]? We had games for every season. We would jump the dykes [not something you can say nowadays in our p.c. era] in Shakespeare School. We also played cricket in the street with the wicket being drawn on the wall. We had back court concerts where we charged 1d to get in, with the proceeds going to Eastpark Home. Our "stage" was the wash house roof.

We also played skipping ropes and some of the rhymes I can remember were:

You naughty boy, you stole my toy, you named it Roy, you naughty B.O.Y [you had to do a double caw of the rope at boy, toy, Roy etc.

Ma maw's a millionaire, wid ye believe it,
Blue eyes and curly hair/
Sittin' among the Eskimos playin' a game o dominoes
Ma maw's a millionaire.

There she goes, there she goes, peery heels and pointed toes
Look at her feet, she thinks she's neat
Black stockings and dirty feet.

Hard up kick the can .........[insert girl's name] got a man
If ye want to know his name his name is .............[insert boy's name].

Am no hairy Mary am yer maw [hee haw]
Am no hairy Mary am yer maw.
Am no hairy Mary, am yer maw's canary
Am no hairy Mary am yer maw.

Another street song was

In and out those dusty bluehells, in and out those dusty bluebells
In and out those dusty bluebells, early in the morning.
Tipperipperapper on my shoulder, tipperipperapper on my shoulder
Tipperipperapper on my shoulder, early in the morning.