Playground games at Oaklands Primary (I)

Unique to Oaklands (I believe), as I never met anyone from any other primary school who’d played this, was a game called Buzzing (or Bunging). The game was played between two teams, one standing on the air-raid shelter side of the Juniors’ playground, the other team standing by the wire fence separating the playground from the Infants. The distance between the two teams was some 90 ft (27m).

A thrower from one team would throw a standard tennis ball from one side of the playground to the other. The other team would attempt to catch the ball. If they did so, they’d get three points (for a two-handed catch) or six points (for a one-handed catch). If they failed to catch the ball, the throwing team would win one point.

A simple game, but it kept us Juniors occupied for many a playtime. It helped hand-eye coordination, teamwork and – numeracy. Adding all those sixes, threes and ones and keeping tabs on the score. Whatever was going on in the rest of the playground, there was usually a steady barrage of tennis balls flying overhead!

There were many other games we played – many common to other schools (British Bulldog, chain-he, piggyback fights). I will describe everyone I remember in future posts.