Small Boystoys And Other Pastimes 1930s

A Memory of Smallfield.

bill.haylor@btinternet.com  Resident in and around Smallfield for 81 yrs

A large number of our toys were made from wood, dependant on what tools were available in fathers shed, if it was unlocked! The only tools needed were a saw, a hammer and some nails. There were two basic things a home made wooden toy was required to do: (1) Be able to be pulled along by a string, provided it had wheels; (2) To float in a pond or stream. The shape was unimportant, imagination made it realistic.

Our play area was usually the road surface itself, footpaths for pedestrians were only just becoming necessary, car movements were reasonably slow which gave plenty of time to move out of the way. Few footpaths meant more ditches with running water so floating boats along them was popular. A boat consisted of any shaped object that would float from the smallest twig to a chunky piece of wood; penknives were popular in order to shape the wood so that the front at least was the correct shape.

Occasionally there was a tunnel such as the one under the road at the corner by the existing garage and Chapel, a boat could get stuck under there so we went looking for it all the way through to the other end. Provided we could see an exit to daylight it was a popular pastime just going through it.

Cowboys and Indians. Bow and Arrows and other adventure games were played in the woods, upon which now stand Tudor Close and The Woodlands, in later years during WWII when the area was filled with soldiers it was a popular place to spot a courting couple. Some dared to include the soldier as part of their adventure, provided they could run fast!

Dinky Toys were the popular toy along with Hornby Trains, I don't recall any toys in local shops except coupon offers in breakfast cereals. Cornflakes or Wheat Flakes were called 'Force' fronted with a lively cartoon character called Sunny Jim. We flew elastic band powered model aircraft named Frog. We made paper aircraft shapes that flew. The only proper toy shop I recall was in Horley High Street they stocked all the best toys.

Although we had toys most of our time was spent outdoors, walking along a ditch or stream to look for the water source was a regular interest. Many boys collected birds' eggs, not me. I always followed the interest of making of things, Arthur Putt the Blacksmith was a particular favourite to watch at his forge, for 6d he would make a hoop which we then rolled all the way home. As we grew older and bigger pram chassis were in demand, they had four good wheels and a firm cross support onto which we placed some form of boarding for a seat then either sat on it and pushed ourselves backwards or made someone else push us.

I lived in School Road at number 9. The nearest boy of my age was at the other end of the village in Plough Road, I would spend many hours with them as they had access to Kings Brickyard and all the wonders of a building site, in particular there was water in the old clay pits, it was full of fish with perfectly clear water, some areas were too deep to venture into but the clay shallows were perfect. In winter local men skated on it but it was very deep in places, I was banned there.

Catapults were popular, they could be bought from shops ready made and were made of aluminium, or you found a hedge where suitable forked branches were growing which you then removed and shaped to a size similar to the shop ones. Lengths of square elastic provided the power, two pieces each about 8 inches long with a leather pouch in between the ends for ammunition, pebbles. They could be very deadly for hitting targets such as the china dollies (insulators) on telegraph poles or sometimes street lights; we aimed at rabbits but were poor shots. There was a definite hazard in using catapults for if they were not held or aimed correctly the elastic or the pebble would hit your thumb or hand as it was released causing pain and bruising.

Fishing was always a good pastime, a stick, with a piece of string, and a pin with a worm or maggot on the end and dropped into the open stream near the garage, there was always the chance of catching a stickleback or minnow, sometimes we would try the pond at the side of Rede Hall Road just up from the shops where a big fat newt might take the worm. None of those caught would be 'hooked' as they would take the worm by simply sucking at it. All those caught would be returned in the same place.

In 1936 a village fete was held in one of Warnett's fields just up from the shops on the right with various events and races, there was a decorated bicycle competition where I was dressed as Micky Mouse, the winner of this event was John Prevett from Copthorne, his cycle was dressed as a yacht with himself as a sailor and winning first prize, there is no doubt it was good but I was jealous, their was free lemonade and a greasy pole, on top of which was a large ham, not very hygienic perhaps.

Climbing trees was most boys' pastime; any likely looking tree anywhere just had to be climbed, not me.

During the summer months when tar on the roads was near melting point, bubbles formed which if stamped on went off pop, this was all very well until our shoes became sticky, we then had to find some dry dust and jump about in it. When going to the shops or school after it rained, counting patches of coloured oil on the road was one game to see who totalled the most each day. Girls played hop scotch, girls were silly.