Sheffield Retro: 22 autumnal photos looking back on the days when conkers were massively popular

What is your favourite memory of autumn? In this retro gallery we go back in time to when collecting, playing and competing with conkers was a very popular seasonal activity

Autumn marks that time of the year when the temperatures gradually begin to fall and rainfall becomes more frequent.

As the trees shed its array of colour-changing leaves, a rich array of colours litters the ground… During all this seasonal change children used to gather around the base of trees (and in some cases, even climb them) collecting loads of conkers.

Did you ever hoard plastic bags full of the seeds of horse chestnut trees?

I remember when children used to cure and cultivate the conker so it would have the perfectly firm shell, some used to cheat by varnishing the exterior and others would use the finest drill bit to get the smoothest hole for the shoe lace to go through.

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Those who weren’t lucky enough to have a parent with a full tool bag would make do with a protractor or even a stolen knitting needle. How did you make your holes?

Sadly, in recent years, the art of conker play has declined massively. Some say it’s for health and safety reasons, especially in schools. Part of the reason is possibly avoiding aggressive competition, as it used to sometimes get.

But to those of us who remember those days, it was almost a rite of passage of sorts. One that seems to have been mostly left (for the most part) in another era.Is playing with conkers still a popular pastime for children today?