Saturday 24th October 2015
Centenary Celebration of Traditional Childhood Games
There was lots of fun and laughter at the Llangollen Leisure Centre on Saturday 24th October with the Clwyd Denbigh Federation WI Leisure and Performing Arts committee hosting an afternoon of games to celebrate the Centenary of the WI.
The X-Boxes, IPads and electronics took a back seat whilst we went back in time to the basics of board / card games, Cup and Ball, Hopscotch, Shove Ha’penny, Bagatelle, Marbles, French Skipping, Hula Hooping and many more. It was quite a nostalgic event for us adults as we reminisced about the good old days when there was far more interaction with friends prior to the introduction of the video games. French Elastics, Hula Hooping and Double Dutch Skipping seemed to top the ratings for Valley Girls WI (although they had to fight off the children), whilst Glyndyfrdwy WI became challenging with the Beetle Drive and Rhosnesni WI topped the winning board for both Skittles and Shove Ha’penny.
Whilst the children were also getting competitive with Bagatelle, Quoits, Trap the rat and ball games, it was difficult to decide who was actually having the most fun (children or adults) !! Unfortunately we had to abandon the Croquet due to bad weather but it didn’t put a dampener on the indoor games which truly took us back in time.
Although no-one could actually master the top / whip or ‘Jacks’, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon which proved that we can still have great fun for hours when we turn off our smart phones and modern technology and appreciate the good old fashioned traditional games. A big thank you to Llangollen Rotary Club for the loan of some of the games and to Llangollen and Valley Girls WI for their support.
By Jane Berry