Conkers

A Memory of Slough.

I seem to remember that this section of Upton Park had its entrance at Sussex Place (at the East end of the High Street, just past Upton Road) Many an hour was spent walking/running through this section on route to Lacelles playing fields on the other side. To the left of the scene shown was a row of large trees (Horse chesnut) where as small boys (myself and others) we used to throw sticks at the branches high up in order to knock down the green spikey pods. This in order to gain access to the precious brown horse chestnuts inside. What did we do with them? They were our "Conkers" - our treasure! They were used for the game of conkers in which, after putting a hole through them with some string or a shoelace, with a knot at one end, were ready to do battle with the other owners of conkers. The aim of the game was to challenge another boy to a kind of dual, taking it in turns to hit the opponent's conker with your own conker hoping to destroy the opponents conker. The 'conker' was the trophy itself if it could survive many such challenges. We would, for example claim to own a one-er or a five-er etc. The nut could be made harder by soaking in vinegar or baking in an oven, and thus stood a greater chance of becoming "supreme" conker in the school. Pretty simple, naïve stuff by the technological standards of today, but, at around 8/9 years of age it was in those days highly competitive stuff. All of this (for me) came to pass through the gathering of 'conkers' in Upton Park.