Contents
List
Our Memories
Pastimes
|
Contents
List
|
Consequences
Dorm Golf
Pencil Cricket
Dorm Cricket
Informal Cricket
Kingy
I nearly got expelled for getting caught playing x-rated written 'consequences' with Deirdre Bewers during prep. You write a short story of 5 sentences, based on who - where & doing what - he said - she said - and the consequence, but after each sentence you fold the paper over and swap, and then at the end open the paper up and read the ridiculous mixed up story. I remember Deirdre's consequence of the paper that got caught by Worrall was "And they pumped till dawn." Imagine a second year being dragged into the office and having to explain that this was not about a real person!!!
Happy days indeed.
David Cook (Durham 1969-71, New 1971-74)
I can remember playing Dorm Golf (usually with Rupert Gabriel) on the landing. Although it failed to set the heather alight, it was also a sophisticated derivation, this time of golf, hence the name. You allocated yourself a bin (or "hole") and using your naked foot (or "club") flung (or "hit") an irregular shaped eraser around the landing. Come to think of it, it's not that surprising it didn't catch on ...
Like Dorm Cricket, when you mention it to
people outside WyCol, they just don't know what you are talking about.
Sid Sidey
Dating from the earliest days of the College (and common in other schools), this pastime involved use of a standard score-book page and one, or two, six-sided pencils, with the sides marked dice-fashion to determine runs, events and decisions. Players could number from one upwards (to 22, I guess). Making up imaginary teams was an enjoyable part of the fun and imaginations usually ran riot. I well remember Marilyn Monroe batting against Diana Dors' googlies in Dorm 26.
Can anyone recall the precise pencil markings or any other features of the game?
[A non-College surfer came across the above entry and said: "I played two 6 sided pencils, one for the bowler, one the batsmen. A player rolled the batsman pencil which was marked, 1,2,3,4,6 and howzat!!!! If howzat!!!! was rolled, the bowlers pencil was rolled, marked with 5 methods of being out and a not out, i.e. bowled, caught, stumped, run out, lbw, not out. I too have memories of various teams facing up to each other and a friend of mine once carried out a whole world cup tournament on his desk at work in a day, followed by a five test ashes series." - Hinton Chetwood]
Herb Atkins
C.J. Burton had metal Pencil Cricket rollers, specially made by him in the metal workshops. One for the batsman, one for the bowler. I think that each metal thing was of six sides: the batsman rolled it and got either nothing, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6: the bowlers was something like two dots for no score, a wide, a wicket, a no-ball, and what the 6th was I can't remember.
Ben Carter
The Fry version of Dorm Cricket was a
highly sophisticated adult game and therefore only 6th form could play! In
Fry we invented the day/night international match - England v. Rhodesia. A
whole new set of rules applied for playing after lights out. These included
extra runs for hitting plebs in their beds, even more if they squealed etc.
etc. All good character building stuff, you have to laugh!
Colin Leaford
I remember the cricket well, it was always played through our rooms on the
top floor, to reduce the chance of staff hearing us from the dining room
(luckily most of you took your clogs off, which helped). I must admit it was
always best to be in the dorm at the bowler's end; less chance of getting
hit.
Gary Johnson
One of my memories was the great game of
cricket we used to play on the concrete path outside Dorm 25 on Summer
evenings after Prep. The wicket was a 40 gallon oil drum with one end
removed, the proper use for which was as a large dustbin. The concrete
path was the wicket and we played with as many soft balls as could be found
and as many players as wanted to play. Whoever had one of the balls
bowled it and whoever got the batsman out went in to bat. It was fast
and furious and very dusty with the large cinder covered area between the
"wicket" and the engineering block forming the "field".
Alan Sidell
A popular pastime in the boys' Houses in the early Seventies was a game called "Kingy" which was great fun. All you needed was a large open space and a tennis ball.
Someone would throw the ball as far as they could and the person who was "King" would chase and catch it, whilst everyone else would tear off in the opposite direction. When the "King" caught up with the ball he would shout, at which point everyone else had to freeze and not move their feet at all. The "King" would then get two throws towards the faraway pack, followed by a "shot" whereby he had to try to hit someone on any part of the body except the fists with the ball. If he hit the person, they became a "King" as well and the kings would team up to hit others with the ball, except they were not allowed to run with the ball but had to pass it. After the first "shot", everyone else could run around again but those still not hit had to keep their clenched fists together at all times, which slowed them down.
It was quite exhilarating trying to fend
off a fast flat trajectory ball with your fists, as you knew it would hurt
quite a bit if it hit you elsewhere, and the team of "Kings" doing the
shooting had to strategically position themselves to hit the moving targets
without running with the ball themselves. The last person to get hit had to
make a futile effort to stay alive, after which he became "King" in the next
round. At the time it felt a bit like playing paintballing does now,
except no-one "died."
David Cook (Durham 1969-71, New 1971-74)
Wymondham College Remembered