Stan Garside

Corner of Hill Street and Waterloo Street

Stan Garside’s story comes from the London Public Library’s Oral History Heritage project.

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My favourite place growing up was Waterloo Street. We lived on Hill because I went to Simcoe School. We’d get up to a lot then in those days. When we were twelve or thirteen, we’d play an old game called Boars in England, but I don’t suppose you’ve heard of it.

We’d meet here at the corner of Waterloo and Hill and we’d draw a chalk line, make kiddie corner across the road. Then there would be a handkerchief tied to the post on one side of the street, and a handkerchief tied to the post on the other. We’d gather in a group and choose sides. Sometimes we’d have six, eight children, sometimes ten or twelve of us out on the road. The idea was to get across to the other side of the road and capture the flag without being touched by the other team. If you were touched you were taken prisoner and put in the corner.

We loved playing here, much to the aggravation of motorists, and oh doctors. After going to the Victoria hospital, we’d proceed with our game, cars or no cars! Not that there was many of them then, much less than there are now.