{"id":318,"date":"2019-08-27T15:02:25","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T14:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=318"},"modified":"2019-08-27T15:02:26","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T14:02:26","slug":"playing-cuckoo-on-thedge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2019\/08\/27\/playing-cuckoo-on-thedge\/","title":{"rendered":"PLAYING CUCKOO ON TH\u00b4EDGE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A\n\u00b4playing out scheme\u00b4 recently devised by Alice (not Alex) Ferguson, a young\nmother, who wanted her own children to be able to play outdoors has produced\nbenefits that surely should not surprise us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now\nthe scheme has been studied by health experts who suggest that some streets or\nroads should be closed occasionally to encourage children to play out as those\nof my generation did in the fifties and sixties. Hundreds of communities in\nBritain have already signed up to a \u00b4playing out\u00b4 initiative that could see\nstreets being temporarily \u00b4closed\u00b4 to traffic for a couple of hours a week. It\nis felt that this would allow children to play out safely, close to home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nnationwide plan was then proposed by Bristol University and after studying the\nresults of their experiments experts are claiming such play areas create a\ngreater sense of community as and an increase in childrens\u00b4 activities on road\nclosure days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well,\nwho\u00b4da thunked it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My\nNana Andy in Tadcaster, (West Yorkshire) who looked after me for long periods\nof school holidays would have told the experts that, more than fifty years ago.\nThere\u00b4d often be some pretty well organised games of street football on one stretch\nof road at Auster Bank Crescent, with a game of rounders being played between\nthe next set of street lights, whilst some kids preferred to play on their\nbykes in a game in which they had to \u00b4force\u00b4 opposing cyclists to put one foot\non the ground. In the days of Hutton and Freddie Trueman we\u00b4d turn the streets\ninto Headingley, a place of myth and legend only a short distance of ten miles\naway. It might as well have been at the other side of the world, so it was\neasier to replicate exploits our dads and granddads told us about than it was\nto find the bus fare and admission money to see our heroes in the flesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead,\nall the kids off the estate would be playing some game or other on the narrow\nstreets that formed a square around the houses, and we\u00b4d be out from nine\no\u00b4clock in the morning until whatever time it went dark. Nan would call me in\nfor lunch that was always a bowl of tomato soup followed by a bowl of Ambrosia\nCreamed Rice Pudding, as I listened to a few overs of a Test match on the\nradio. Tea was usually spread cheese sandwiches and a couple of marshmallows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nonly things to stop play were rain, (though my memory says it never rained but\nperhaps we were just hardy enough to ignore a bit of drizzle) and a twice weekly\ndelivery van bringing supplies to the corner shop that provided for the estate.\nThere a weekly  slow journey up and down\nthe streets by my uncle Horace, the local rag and bone man, sitting on his\nhorse drawn cart. That would sometimes bring our games to a halt whilst we kicked\naside the mess his horse would make. A daily inconvenience was my uncle Sid,\nwobbling home from work each day on his bike, trying to carry under one arm\nwhatever tools or equipment he\u00b4d borrowed from his workplace that would enable\nhim to improve the house and garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now,\nin 2019, Angie Page, Professor Of Physical Activity And Public Health at Bristol\nUniversity, suggests that time spent playing outdoors leads to increased\nphysical exercise and a reduction in obesity. My Nan and \u00b4unc\u00b4 weren\u00b4t\nprofessors, but as I recall, I think they knew that, leaving aside the not so\nsmall matter of marshmallows for tea !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ngovernment, of course, has now issued a decree to local authorities across the\nUK that they should designate street areas that can be employed for play. All\nthis, they suggest, will improve childrens\u00b4 personal skills and improve social\ncohesion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\ndon\u00b4t doubt the merits of the plan, but I am reminded of a song that my group\nLendanear recorded on our first album in the nineteen seventies. Even then the\nconcept of playing in the street had been slowly killed off by tv in the living\nroom and too many cars on the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\nwhen Colin Lever and I wrote Cup Finals Every Night in 1976, the scenes it\ndescribed already carried a glow of nostalgia for an era long gone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
browsing the Lendanear site under construction<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Now\nthis plan is being unveiled at the same time as we have just re-issued the song\non a re-mastered version of the album Moonbeam Dancing, the cover of the\noriginal of which showed a football resting beneath a lit street light, waiting\nto be used again come daylight in tomorrow\u00b4s match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nlyrics might make interesting reading, as they not only remind us of what were\nthe halcyon days of my sixty-something generation but also illustrate how art\nreflects life. Maybe the time has finally come for this song that we performed,\n(not well enough, obviously) at our audition for Opportunity Knocks. The words\nreproduced at the foot of this post might help you decide whether or not Hughie\nGreen should have given Lendanear, and our poetry set to music, the chance to\nbecome a \u00b4national treasure\u00b4 in the way the Pam Ayres later did ! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever\nits merits or lack thereof, the song continually reminds me of my childhood\ndays playing in the streets, pretending to be nat Lofthouse, the Bolton\nWanderers And England centre forward, or \u00a8fiery Fred\u00b4, the Yorkshire and\nEngland fast bowling cricketing legend. You may recall that we referenced\nLofthouse in a recent post about Tiny Tommy Trotter And The Mountain Of Debt\nthat looks like it is about to tumble down on the club and bury it in un-consecrated\nground outside the football league. Now, this recollection of Fred Truman\nreminds that his is perhaps the most impressive sculpted tribute I have seen.\nIt stands by the canal side at Skipton, and up until coming here four years ago\nmy wife and I were still spending romantic Friday evenings, eating fish and\nchips and scallops from Bizzie Lizzies with a can of fizzy pop, in the shadow\ncast by the statue of Fred hurtling in to bowl. I\u00b4m a \u00b4Yokshaman\u00b4 and I know\nhow to treat a Yorkshire lass! A scenic car ride, and then a chat about sports\nand culture as we tuck into a nice fish supper, eaten out of the newspaper, and\ntake conversational Sidetracks And Detours all\nacross the arts<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CUP\nFINALS EVERY NIGHT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were\nragamuffin boys, <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

we were good for\nnothing boys,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And lampposts,\nthey were Wembley\u00b4s brightest floodlights.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were stars\nwith twinkling feet, <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

there at Wembley\nin a cobbled street<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

playing our cup\nfinals every night.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Chorus)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nwere ragamuffin boys<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and\nthey called us good  for nothing boys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schooldays\nfull of playground scraps,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

behind\nthe bike shed, sharing drags<\/p>\n\n\n\n

until\ncome the bell at four o\u00b4clock<\/p>\n\n\n\n

off\nwith your tie and down with your socks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and\nforget your homework, skip your tea, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

and\nstraight out to play for Wanderers FC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(repeat chorus)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two\nbest players would pick two teams <\/p>\n\n\n\n

but\nI was always last one picked it seemed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

even\nthough there\u00b4d perhaps be fifteen kids each side<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\nfirst team to score ten would bring half time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then\nlater, when the match was really tensely poised<\/p>\n\n\n\n

out\ncame old Granny Hick, \u00b4what\u00b4s all this noise?\u00a8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then,\nwith the score at nineteen all,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

she\u00b4d\nbeggar off, and take the ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(repeat chorus)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nhave you seen today\u00b4s ragamuffin boys,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

drinking\nand stomping and making lots of noise,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

spitting\nand cursing and swearing aloud<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Singing\ntheir racist songs and feeling proud?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nthought we\u00b4d given them enough<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by\nbuilding adventure playgrounds and new youth clubs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but\nthe reason England can\u00b4t find a new goalscoring star?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too\nfew streets and too many cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Repeat chorus)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9\nLever Warwick<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Available\nsoon on Moonbeam Dancer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A \u00b4playing out scheme\u00b4 recently devised by Alice (not Alex) Ferguson, a young mother, who wanted her own children to be able to play outdoors has produced benefits that surely should not surprise us. Now the scheme has been studied by health experts who suggest that some streets or roads should be closed occasionally to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aata"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}