PLAY SWAP behind the scenes: Day 2 of filming

Second day of filming the upcoming PLAY SWAP film as Michael and I wandered Walworth again absorbing the wealth of knowledge and stories from local people as well as stocking up on a bit of visual context...

Today we spoke to East Street shop owners from Pakistan who told us about playing football and cricket from behind their butcher's counter and between the upside-down chicken heads then Luis, a local boy we met playing in the park with the soon-to-be-cut Southwark Play Team. Luis was a brilliant interviewee, keenly telling us about games he plays in the local area including the well-known Run Outs, as well as Family It and Camouflage as well as highlighting his love for the local park. 

We also had a fascinating chat with Ricky, a member of staff with the Southwark Play Team which sets up a bouncy castle as well as art activities in Nursery Row Park every Monday and Wednesday. Ricky has grown up on the Aylesbury Estate and spoke to us about the effect the architecture of the space has on its participants, most notably the council's removal of bridges linking the blocks together to prevent easy escape for burglars, but also severing the communal pathways between blocks, now creating hostility and very separate residential islands. 

Thursday is our last day of filming where we have some more exciting interviews lined up, ready to culminate over the next month in the production of PLAY SWAP's first short film. We will be screening the film at Pembroke House early September. Watch this space. 

Eleanor Shipman

PLAY SWAP

PLAY SWAP behind the scenes: Day 1 of filming

Today was the first day of filming for PLAY SWAP's upcoming short film. A full on first day kept well in order by the fantastic Michael Radford included interviews with East Street Market stallholders; Graham - an ex London bus driver from Pembroke House Lunch Club; Janet, Beverly and Sandra - local grandparents two of whom have lived in the area their whole lives, and one of whom moved here in 1956 from the West Indies; and Alfie and Freddie, two local brothers aged 8 and 11. 

The boys showed us a new park in the area where we met lots of other local children including Tida, Rayquia, Mohammed and Larcon who soon became a big, brilliant tech team expertly holding the mic, zooming, panning and being very, very quiet during interviews. Well done PLAY SWAP crew!

Eleanor Shipman

PLAY SWAP

PLAY SWAP is making a film!

Exciting times ahead as PLAY SWAP is planning to produce a short film with photographer and filmmaker Michael Radford. 


The film will document PLAY SWAP by inviting local children to interview local people about the games they played as children, and discussing the challenges and benefits of play in Walworth and Southwark. Filming will be taking place over the next few weeks on East Street Market, in Nursery Row Park and in and around Pembroke House. 


We are hoping to then screen the film at Pembroke House and in other local venues.


If you would like to get involved with the PLAY SWAP film or have games to share, then please get in touch: eleanorshipman@gmail.com

Game Collection from Latin American dance group Gotitas de Sabor

On Saturday afternoon I went to visit the Latin American dance group Gotitas de Sabor (www.gotitasdesabor.com) in an empty shop unit at the edge of the Heygate to collect some new street games from the children. 

Monica, the director, welcomed me in to the group and kindly allowed me to chat to the young people and gather some games from them to add to my ever growing archive. The children were very enthusiastic and taught me some brilliant new games such as Splat!, Family It, Shooting and Stuck in the Mud. 

Eleanor Shipman

PLAY SWAP

Game Collection from Victory House Mum's Group

Janiece, a fantastic Outreach Worker from Victory House School, invited me to attend the mum's coffee morning she runs today to talk to the women about games from their childhoods and to invite them to attend PLAY SWAP sessions with their children over summer. 

The women were brilliant to work with, engaged and open to thinking back to days of playing outside as children across the world. Some amazing games were contributed: Rounders from Zambia, Hide and Seek and Pone from Ethiopia, Ready from Africa, Skipping from Sierra Leone, Nwanchu, Standard Living and Bolu Bolu from Nigeria and Football and Hide and Seek from Poland.

I was made to feel hugely welcome by Janiece and her lovely group, and very much hope to head back again soon to get playing. 

Eleanor Shipman

PLAY SWAP

Street game songs from the Lunch Club - and Lottie's 87th Birthday

The lunch club gave me some street game songs today, which some of them sang as children on these very streets. I am hoping to involve these in a short film I am currently planning as an archive of the PLAY SWAP project and street games collected from Walworth and Southwark in general. 




'Valencia, throw the ball up the wall. Tra laa laa laa.'
Linda


'Two little dicky birds sitting on a wall,
One named Peter one named Paul,
Fly away Peter, fly away Paul,
Come back Peter, come back Paul.'
Linda


'A gypsy said to me,
Would you like a cup of tea?
I said No No,
I like Co-coa
Down - in - the - glen.'
Janet


'Over the garden wall,
I let my baby fall,
My mother came out,
And gave me a clout,
Wondered what all the fuss was about,
Over the garden wall.'
Janet


'1, 2, 3 O'leary
My balls went down the airy*,
Give us a clip and ask for Mary.'
*basement
Joan

'High Jimmy Naker,
1, 2, 3 - All over!'
David

Surrey Square School - play time with over one hundred children...

PLAY SWAP at Surrey Square today was an extravaganza of new games. From Duck Duck Goose to Wink Murder, Sly Fox to Mr. Bear, the children and their teachers shared some fantastic games.

Eleanor Shipman

PLAY SWAP

PLAY SWAP Event with children and parents at Surrey Square TODAY!

This afternoon PLAY SWAP is visiting Surrey Square School to collect games from local parents and pass them on to and play them with local children. Pembroke House Lunch Clubbers have also been invited to share games previously collected from their childhoods growing up in the Walworth area. 


Looking forward to learning and playing more local games from around the world...








Eleanor Shipman
PLAY SWAP

More Kerbie and inventing new street games with a broom and some cones...

For PLAY SWAP today local boys Connor and Freddie came out to play Kerbie and Football (until the ball got stuck on the roof). We then invented some new games with a marble we found and a broom we had previously used to retrieve the ball from under a car.

The boys documented the afternoon with the disposable cameras left over from last week. Looking forward to seeing the results...

Eleanor Shipman

PLAY SWAP

Apple Crumble - Games with songs

I was recently donated a whole load of songs from Southwark, Walworth and Deptford recorded and archived in 1908 by local people who learnt them from their grandparents. 

At the Pembroke Academy of Music four girls showed me a contemporary local clapping and singing game called Apple Crumble.

Perhaps we could create some new singing games...

PLAY SWAP at East Street Market

PLAY SWAP faced the early (8am!) morning rain on East Street today for the first incarnation of the PLAY SWAP market stall: selling nothing, and instead collecting street games from passers by. These games are added to the collection so far creating a vast array of 'local games from around the world' - from Iraq to Nigeria, Antigua to Germany. 

Having had a stall rolled over for me to set up the PLAY SWAP pitch just next to the entrance to Nursery Row Park, I dreaded the day to come as the rain poured down and I was left tarpaulin-less, knowing my main materials of felt tip pens and paper would not survive. Luckily, the market opened for trading, and with it exchanged the heavy clouds for stunning sunshine.

I displayed a book of some games collected so far - from 5 year olds playing Hide and Seek and Mums and Dads, to 71 year olds remembering Kiss Chase and Alleygobs. But we needed more. Aided by my trusty assistant Nick, we were soon collecting games from East Street customers and learning about local and world history in the process. 

Bringing people together through play is the aim of this project, and today certainly proved it can be done. As I was gathering a huge list of games from one local man, he encouraged another man passing by to share his memories with us as they were of a similar age. Indeed, they had played the same games which they reminisced about with great joy, between stories of one's time in the Falklands and the other's path to becoming a born-again Christian.

Local women shared hopping and grid games they learnt as children on the streets of Nigeria, to the point where others coming to talk to us could be shown the previous person's diagrams to explain the game. Two new versions of Hopscotch were also revealed - one called Eye-Die (as you throw the stone onto the grid behind you with your eyes closed) from Antigua, and the other known as Heaven and Hell (as you work your way up to 'heaven' at the top of the grid, and go back down to 'hell' if you get 'out') from Germany.

Charlie Chaplin was making his way in and out of the stalls, happily dancing to the reggae being blasted out of the stall next to ours. He too shared a game from his childhood, called 'Blockey 1, 2, 3', one which I too learnt as a child and had not heard anyone use the same name for it until now. He revealed that he grew up in my home town of St. Albans - a lovely feeling for me to find my own game matched!

I hope to continue using PLAY SWAP to create links between people, giving them an instant common ground and talking point, building up trust and prompting exchange between local people. Perhaps a regular PLAY SWAP stall would encourage and support this. Food for thought.

Eleanor Shipman

Pembroke People

PLAY SWAP painting and playing out...

Painting signs to encourage outdoor play on East Street market crates, graffiti in the grass and disposable camera 'run outs'...