Memoryshare

Peter got in touch with the BBC West Yorkshire website in the hope we might help find an answer to a question that's eluded him for years. He says:

"When we played the popular game of TIG in Wes' Bowling in Bratfudd after the war, there were various rules:

"'Ye can't tig yer butcher!' - meaning you can't tig the one who 'tigged' (tugged?) you. (Today's kids might benefit from games that force you to both run about a bit AND employ some form of strategic planning, eh ?)

"In the variation known as Feet off o't Grahnd Tig, (and, no doubt, other variants), you couldn't be 'tugged' (tigged) so long as your feet were off (or 'off of') the ground. In the schoolyard all this necessitated was diving onto the railings and hanging suspended, with your knees bent and feet in the air. (A popular rule was for your intending 'butcher' to then have to count slowly(-ish) up to five, thus giving you time to run away and seek refuge elsewhere. Tickling by the 'butcher' was frowned upon!

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"The normal rebuke to any prospective 'butcher' - who erroneously tried to tig someone who was claiming sanctuary from being tigged - was to cry out: 'You can't tig me, ah'm Barlow!' - (or something that sounded like that, although the 'rules' were never available in booklet form in those days).

"My question, which remains unanswered, despite a thorough surfing of the internet, is this: Who was BARLOW and what did she or he do to achieve such fame?

"Hope you know someone who can solve this mystery. It's not him in Coronation Street, that's for sure. He's never been a butcher, has he?"

And now it's over to you! If you can help answer Peter's question about the elusive Barlow - or you'd share your memories of childhood games in West Yorkshire - and beyond - with Memoryshare and find out what others are saying...

...and remember you'll be doing your bit to build the BBC Memoryshare archive of hundreds of memories from across the UK since 1900 until the present day!