Sunday morning, 25 October 2009, the day the clocks went back, residents of Greville Road in Southville, Bristol, UK woke to find their street transformed into a temporary art work. Words in white chalk meandered over the road, across the pavement and along walls, depicting memories of childhood play.

The memories had been gathered at an event called ‘Playing Out’, organised by residents of Greville Road last June. ‘Playing Out’ imitated the ‘play streets’ that were active in many UK cities from the 1930s to the 1970s; the road was closed to through traffic and children were invited to use it as they wanted. Local resident Alice Ferguson, said of Playing Out: “It was unstructured apart from the road closure and stewards. Children used that space and freedom to cycle,explore, skate, scoot, skip, run, hula-hoop, kick balls – even stilt-walk! Adults who were around were amazed at the impact of seeing children play in the street and their own memories of playing out as kids came pouring out”. 

Artist and Greville Road resident Amy Rose, whose company Bocadalupa Arts and Performance provided creative input for both ‘Playing Out’ and ‘Write Up Your Street’, said, “The memories we collected from the adults were really evocative; we wanted to use them to create a treat for people passing by—to invite a new way of seeing familiar surroundings.  It also creates a kind of ‘mental speed bump’ for drivers…” The chalked words – “kickstone 1 2 3 til 10pm in the street” and “playing knock down ginger and getting caught” as well as more detailed stories – map chalky, playful pathways such as a child might take, starting in three different streets and converging in an exuberant tangle at a central meeting point.

Weather and car tyres will erase the words before long. As the chalk fades, perhaps we might ask ourselves what children growing up today will remember about their own childhood play. 

Unfortunately, Greville Road Neighbours (a resident’s association) and Bocadalupa Arts and Performance can not advocate children playing in the street until traffic conditions change.  The 15 residents and artists who woke up early to create this project hope that their efforts may go some small way towards reclaiming streets as social, playful, experiential environments, not only avenues for transport and car parking.

BBC coverage .