conkers

[serenadust]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "stbjohn2" <stbjohn2 at y...> 
wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> I just followed a link on muggle.net to a report on filming of 
GOF. 
> (they are somewhere in surrey, filming at a park with a lake, so 
> maybe it's the 2nd task). The blogger said he/she(?) saw Emma 
Watson 
> wearing a heavy-duty protective mask playing conkers. So what the 
> heck is Conkers?  (sorry if it's been discussed before, I did a 
> search until my patience ran out and couldn't find anything)
> Sandy

Hi Sandy,

I can actually answer this question, despite the fact that I'm a non-
Brit ;-).

About 10 years ago, my family and I were living in Hampshire in the 
UK while my husband was on a two year work assignment.  My daughter 
began Infant School (which is preschool/kindergarten and not for
infants at all) at age four, and had to bring home a picture book 
every night to practice reading.  One night she came home with a 
book all about children playing "Conkers", and although I could tell 
from the context that it was a game, I couldn't begin to answer her 
questions about it.  The next day, I asked her teacher about it when 
I brought her to school, and she was really shocked that we had no 
idea what it was.  She and another(English) mother quickly explained 
that it was a traditional game, played with the nuts from Horse 
Chestnut trees (found all over the ground in the autumn).

Anyway, here's a link that explains it in detail:
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/conkers.html 

Jo Serenadust