Conkers

[BoRED S2upid]

It's that time of year. Has the art of conkering been totally banned from schools yet?. I imagine the jobsworths running the country have probably made it illegal by now, if your child is seen having a conker fight they will most likely be sent to the naughty boys home and you as a rubbish parent will get an ASBO.

[Lord Flathead]

Last year my daughters class were told that they should only participate in at the engineering workshop during break-times and they must wear safety glasses if they are having conkering bouts WTF

Edited by Lord Flathead on Wednesday 7th October 08:56

[Ganglandboss]

http://www.hse.gov.uk/myth/september.htm

[central]

http://www.worldconkerchampionships.com/

[silverthorn2151]

I must confess to being faintly disappointed at the modern world when I walk the dog through parks strewn with conkers.....just lying there!! I mean....WTF!

Back in my day it was a scrabble to collect the most you could. It's such a shame.

The kid runs deep in me though as I got home only to discover a dozen conkers in my pockets.....including several top drawer cheesers that would have been the scourge of the playground in 1969!

SHMBO patted me on the head and the kids just stared blankly before turning back to xbox/myface/mobile...

I now feel a strong urge for Wagon Wheels and Cream Soda!

[Pwig]

Ganglandboss said:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/myth/september.htm

From the HSE web site :

Realistically the risk from playing conkers is incredibly low and just not worth bothering about. If kids deliberately hit each other over the head with conkers, that’s a discipline issue, not health and safety.



Good to see someone there has a sense of humour!

[escargot]

silverthorn2151 said:

I must confess to being faintly disappointed at the modern world when I walk the dog through parks strewn with conkers.....just lying there!! I mean....WTF!

Back in my day it was a scrabble to collect the most you could. It's such a shame.

The kid runs deep in me though as I got home only to discover a dozen conkers in my pockets.....including several top drawer cheesers that would have been the scourge of the playground in 1969!

SHMBO patted me on the head and the kids just stared blankly before turning back to xbox/myface/mobile...

I now feel a strong urge for Wagon Wheels and Cream Soda!

So, so right.

I once rigged an elaborate conker crane out of a ladder, a broom & a load of rope thus allowing me to practice my technique. Back in the day I recall my Dad's garage stuffed with sacks (alright, perhaps one sack) of conkers.

Brilliant fun.

[RedLeicester]

One of the reasons we picked our kids school was seeing they had a leaderboard for the conker championships.... Daughter went in last week with a couple of hundred she picked up in the garden.

[hooperpride]

silverthorn2151 said:

I must confess to being faintly disappointed at the modern world when I walk the dog through parks strewn with conkers.....just lying there!! I mean....WTF!

Back in my day it was a scrabble to collect the most you could. It's such a shame.

The kid runs deep in me though as I got home only to discover a dozen conkers in my pockets.....including several top drawer cheesers that would have been the scourge of the playground in 1969!

SHMBO patted me on the head and the kids just stared blankly before turning back to xbox/myface/mobile...

I now feel a strong urge for Wagon Wheels and Cream Soda!

I remember the walk home from school taking a good half hour longer due to conker collecting, used to fill the house with buckets of them, for no other reason than because we could.

Between myself and mates our collections must have been in the tens of thousands, kids just aren't interested these days, too busy drinking and hanging around on street corners.

[J5]

...and then preparing them to be as hard as possible!

Putting in airing cupboard
Storing overnight in vinegar
etc
etc

[Devilstreak]

J5 said:

...and then preparing them to be as hard as possible!

Putting in airing cupboard
Storing overnight in vinegar
etc
etc

Jesus i remember doing that.. i stored a good hundred in the airing cupboard and forgot about them for 2 years.. they were great.. beat everyone

[NathanJones]

security checks at latest conker competition

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article68...

[Hugo a Gogo]

hooperpride said:

silverthorn2151 said:

I must confess to being faintly disappointed at the modern world when I walk the dog through parks strewn with conkers.....just lying there!! I mean....WTF!

Back in my day it was a scrabble to collect the most you could. It's such a shame.

The kid runs deep in me though as I got home only to discover a dozen conkers in my pockets.....including several top drawer cheesers that would have been the scourge of the playground in 1969!

SHMBO patted me on the head and the kids just stared blankly before turning back to xbox/myface/mobile...

I now feel a strong urge for Wagon Wheels and Cream Soda!

I remember the walk home from school taking a good half hour longer due to conker collecting, used to fill the house with buckets of them, for no other reason than because we could.

Between myself and mates our collections must have been in the tens of thousands, kids just aren't interested these days, too busy drinking and hanging around on street corners.

that's the difference

now you can't go through the park, cos you might get muddy

[ewenm]

Devilstreak said:

J5 said:

...and then preparing them to be as hard as possible!

Putting in airing cupboard
Storing overnight in vinegar
etc
etc

Jesus i remember doing that.. i stored a good hundred in the airing cupboard and forgot about them for 2 years.. they were great.. beat everyone

Working out how to get them tough but not brittle was the key.

[BoRED S2upid]

No stamping though

[Nicol@]

In a car park at the weekend with little nephew and he showed me a conker he had just picked up (some kids still like them).

I asked him where he got it from as there were no trees nearby. He replied with 'it fell out of that mans pocket' and pointed to a guy loading up his car.
So there are other grown men collecting them too.

[Balmoral Green]

Pwig said:

Ganglandboss said:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/myth/september.htm

From the HSE web site :

Realistically the risk from playing conkers is incredibly low and just not worth bothering about. If kids deliberately hit each other over the head with conkers, that’s a discipline issue, not health and safety.



Good to see someone there has a sense of humour!

I like the HSE website, pretty much everything that the media/public come out with as elf'n'safety is complete bks.

It's got to be a full time job for them debunking a lot of it.

I don't know what's worse, the media lies, or the stupid public swallowing it to the extent that it becomes an accepted general 'truth'.

[.:ian:.]

Nicol@ said:

In a car park at the weekend with little nephew and he showed me a conker he had just picked up (some kids still like them).

I asked him where he got it from as there were no trees nearby. He replied with 'it fell out of that mans pocket' and pointed to a guy loading up his car.
So there are other grown men collecting them too.

Go-on little boy, reach into my pocket and feel my conkers..

[Devilstreak]

.:ian:. said:

Nicol@ said:

In a car park at the weekend with little nephew and he showed me a conker he had just picked up (some kids still like them).

I asked him where he got it from as there were no trees nearby. He replied with 'it fell out of that mans pocket' and pointed to a guy loading up his car.
So there are other grown men collecting them too.

Go-on little boy, reach into my pocket and feel my conkers..

Are you one of those strange men on the internet my mummy told me to avoid?

[vinnie83]

Balmoral Green said:

Pwig said:

Ganglandboss said:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/myth/september.htm

From the HSE web site :

Realistically the risk from playing conkers is incredibly low and just not worth bothering about. If kids deliberately hit each other over the head with conkers, that’s a discipline issue, not health and safety.



Good to see someone there has a sense of humour!

I like the HSE website, pretty much everything that the media/public come out with as elf'n'safety is complete bks.

It's got to be a full time job for them debunking a lot of it.

I don't know what's worse, the media lies, or the stupid public swallowing it to the extent that it becomes an accepted general 'truth'.

I asked for extra sauce on my big mac the other day, to be told they're not allowed... why? Health and safety he said!