Re Audrey Butler’s memory of skipping to the Manchester news vendor’s cry (Letters, 22 December), growing up in Wolverhampton in the early 60s I spent endless summer evenings skipping with a gang of friends to the song “Manchester gardens, good evening, yoo-hoo, I say number one ... (two, three etc)”. The numbered person would jump in as the singer jumped out – part of the fun was that the rope turners would also sometimes be called, necessitating quick and dextrous handovers to keep the momentum going. I discovered the origin of the somewhat garbled jingle when I started reading the Guardian 40 years ago. Happy days!
Pauline Latchem
London
• Like Audrey Butler, I used to play the “Manchester Guardian evening news I spy edition one” skipping game. It was more complicated than our other skipping games as you had two sets of ropes and a definite rhythm. One set was held up high for the “eye spy” part, then you had to jump in for the “edition one, two, three etc”. The one who spied the most editions won the game.
Clare Collins
Stafford
• Growing up in Manchester in the 50s, I too sang the skipping rhyme “Manchester Guardian evening news” followed by “I spy edition one ... ”. Little did I know at age nine the importance the Guardian would play throughout my life.
Lynn Taylor
Wigan
• Re Audrey Butler’s inquiry as to whether anyone remembers the Manchester Guardian skipping jingle. I used to skip to that ditty in the Black Country in the 1940s. However, in our ignorance we used to chant “Manchester gardener, evening news ...”
Gillian Howell
Swansea
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