IT'S that time of year again when the leaves start falling from the trees along with the conkers.

We asked members the 12,500 members of our We Grew Up in Newport Facebook group for their memories of playing conkers, which is now banned in school playgrounds.

Here's what they said:

Chris Abako: Use to love playing conkers we use to put them in the oven to make them harder and also soak them in vinegar.

Ian Ratty Humphries: Eye diddly onker, my first conker. Eye diddly onker, my first crack. Best conkers were those that fell naturally from tree not the ones forced down.

Dave Woolven: You were blackballed if you cheated with your conker.

Jon Vaughan: Used to soak them in vinegar to make them harder. Hurt my hands playing conkers many a time.

Mandy Lynch: Great memories. The prefab we lived in Stelvio and had two big conker trees in the garden. When the high winds came you would think someone was chucking bricks at the prefab. You'd be awake half the night and next morning I'd go outside put all the conkers in bags so when the kids around come home from school I would give them to them. They were chuffed to beans. That was in the 70s.

John Pitman: Lost every time until my dad found a wooden ball about the same size and painted it almost the same colour as a conker. I won a couple of times with it until the other lads twigged. Of course after that nobody would play with me.

Beverly Whitcombe: Soaked them in vinegar to make them harder but it didn't make much difference.

Peter Stokes: Bake them in vinegar to make them harder, the good old days

Cheryl Keyse: I remember those days. Somerton Primary had a conker tree if I remember rightly! Such fun.

Kathy Lucas: We had a conker tree in garden of Sycamore opposite the school. The amount of planks and brick kids threw up it to get conkers! Big bruises on the back of hands after playing. We had happy days.

Gloria O'Connell: Loved conkers. Now schools banned them! Health and safety gone mad.

Christine Ann Matthews: The conker field opposite Tredegar Park, even girls played conkers and marbles.

Eileen Williams: Always played conkers. My Grandad used to put them in the oven to harden for my uncles and me. I would play with the girls as the boys were too competitive.

Douglas Lance James: I can remember when I was at Fairoak Secondary Modern School For Boys' we had to pick up the pieces of any smashed conkers and put them in the trash cans.

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