The art of collecting conkers ………

There is an art to collecting conkers.

The fruit of the Horse chestnut tree, 2004

Now  my Wikipedia tells me “conkers are a traditional children's game in Great Britain and Ireland played using the seeds of horse chestnut trees—the name 'conker' is also applied to the seed and to the tree itself. 

The game is played by two players, each with a conker threaded onto a piece of string: they take turns striking each other's conker until one breaks.”*

And surprisingly it says only dates from the 1850s, although there is an account of a similar game from 1821 using snail shells or hazelnuts.

But I reckon it must be heaps older.  After all what could be so simple a game,  a game which must have occurred to children through the ages.

The trees originate in parts of southeast Europe, and there will be someone who can come up with a date for their arrival here.

And no doubt will give chapter and verse on the game and that stinky practice of hardening them first in the oven with an application of vinegar.

Early morning on the Rec, waiting for the conkers to fall, 2022

All of which is fine, but for me, today, it’s the question of how you collect them.

Some people use the bludgeon practice of throwing a big stick into the trees to dislodge the conkers, which I think is a tad dangerous and borders on cheating, while others just walk the walk collecting those that have fallen naturally to the ground.

Now if you choose your moment, usually in the early morning there are plenty lying there ready for the taking.

Rain stopped play, 2022

But then we live opposite the Rec and harvesting the conkers is just a minute’s walk across Beech Road.

And as a child living in Peckham, there was Nunhead Cemetery full of horse chestnut trees and even more conkers. 

Of course, despite how many you collect, you don’t use them all, leading to a plastic bag full of the things that ends up by degrees in the cellar, slowly going mouldy and destined to be thrown out in July, ready for the new season.

That said, with the rain coming down like stair rods this morning I am not sure how many people will be out collecting conkers using either method. 

Location; The Rec

Pictures; The fruit of the Horse chestnut tree © Andrew Dunn, Website: http://www.andrewdunnphoto.com/ I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license: w:en:Creative Commons, attribution share alike. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.  And horse chestnut trees on The Rec, 2022 from  the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Conkers, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conkers