Clitheroe Royal Grammar School

I agree with Alan, Francis Croston and Roy F that it’s very strange for these lads not to be running bare chested in 1959. When I was at senior school in the 1970s we did cross country bare chested in winter and so did other secondary schools in the area.

When I was at secondary school in the early to mid 1960's we did PE and cross-country bare-chested

Ian,
Did your PE teacher speak to the younger boys he felt were 'well developed' to suggest they bought a jockstrap. Our PE teacher had a similar conversation with a few of my classmates about asking their mums to buy them a bra!

Like Francis and Alan, I am surprised by the motley selection of kit these lads are wearing.

Our gym/PE kit consisted of shorts and gymshoes, trunks for swimming, full kit for rugby and cricket. Jockstraps were for older and “well developed” younger boys. Athletics (summer) and long distance (not really cross country, as it was mainly done on roads) were done in PE kit, all weathers. Gym was sometimes outside “to get fresh air on our bodies”, especially in winter.

Showers were compulsory - after gym, games; before and after swimming, always naked. The PE showers were opposite the door which was always wedged open to the corridor, so there was always and audience. They were not the only ones - our teacher was the head of department and often had visitors – inspectors, council and education officials, even dads concerned about their sons.

All activities (hard circuit training exercises and activities, such as vaulting, ropes etc.) were done in a military fashion – lots of standing at attention and doing things “at the double”. There was no slouching around, as in the Burnley photograph.

This was all enforced with tight discipline, informally with the plimsoll or a small, but fiendish belt over the backside. Formally, we received a combination of various punishments - lines (300/500 or more), essays (usually about maintaining discipline), cold showers (at the pool side), detentions but always corporal punishment – a physical punishment for a physical activity, as our teacher us to say. In Scotland in the 50s and 60s, this took the form of the belt used prolifically. Whatever people say nowadays, it certainly improved standards. Even I became quite fit and actually liked long distance.

Hi.I agree,no regulation kit here,looks a bit too modern for 1959.Even in the late sixties we were bare chested for CC but used Rugby boots for footwear.

These lads appear to be in a real mixture of cross country kit. Back in my school day we ran outside in all weather shirtless and barefoot wearing only white shorts.

Paul, the garter rings on my legs had thankfully disappeared long before I reached my late 20s; probably within a few months after I no longer needed to use them.

I learned from a recent TV programme that our famous monarch Henry VIII, (he of the six wives), suffered most of his life from a chronically painful and often debilitating ulcer in his left leg.

This was not caused by some youthful jousting injury as many believed, but by his leggings/socks/hose being supported by garters that were so tight they constricted blood vessels.

It seems that I and many other boys of my generation, were lucky to avoid these complications.

Michael, it sounds like you had the tightest garters of all the kids! Surely you got some comments? I remember that my garters dug in heavily over the shin just below the knee, leaving red marks which were still there in the morning. I was quite skinny at the time, and got called 'knobbly knees' or 'kneecaps' because my kneecaps were very high and prominent. I wore shorts until just before my 13th birthday.

In response to Paul's enquiry (below), I had a permanent sun tan from playing out so much. I wore long socks with sensible black shoes to school, but changed to ankle socks and Clarks' sandals(!) for the rest of the time.

The buckles on my sandals constantly jingled as I moved around, but like my garter rings, this was something I lived with and ignored.

My mother reasoned that as I spent so much time on the floor with my train set and my many other toys, any long trousers would soon be worn through at the knees.

So, although I stopped wearing my regulation grey shorts to school by my 14th birthday, I still wore them and other shorts at home and for playing out, until they were either threadbare or outgrown.

The sun tan on my legs was still clearly visible in my late 20s, but thankfully the garter rings had disappeared by then.

In Cubs and scouts our garters had to be visible. I can just about remember that they had green attachments on them. At school we turned our socks down over them to hide them. We absolutely always had to keep our socks up so the garters were always tight.
At home I always had to change straight out of my socks when I got in and the marks from the garters were deep. It was such a relief to get them off.
at school in PE it was always obvious which boys wore shorts because we had the tell tale garter marks as we ran around the gym

Paul,it was customary to wear garters when wearing knee stockings and mine that I used to wear had a flash of material that protruded beneath my stockings when they were turned over.This enabled anyone to see that I was wearing them and that I had not removed them as I found them uncomfortable.
Like you,I was tanned from the knees upwards and wearing brief shorts it allowed my parents and teachers to administer summary punishment when they considered it necessary.
May I ask you what age you wore short trousers up to?

Michael, yes, I remember the garters. Interested to hear that you had more or less permanent garter rings. I did too, but my reaction was to hide them by wearing the garters all the time! Of course, I was tanned only from the knees upwards. I think I still have a photo showing my garter marks.

My grey school shorts were worn with long socks that had two coloured bands around the top. To hold the socks just below my knees, I had to place elastic garters inside their folded over tops.

These tight garters created rings around my legs, so when I pulled on my long socks each morning, the garters slotted into the exact same place. This kept my socks up very effectively.

The downside was that the garter rings were still plainly visible whenever I wasn't wearing long socks, such as at the swimming baths or beach, or just wearing my ordinary clothes with ankle socks.

But, I got so accustomed to the garter rings around my legs that I just ignored them, as did all the other boys I knew.

Yes James I agree.
Mum told me that I would not be in long trousers until at least 14. To have argued would have made it worse
I had one teacher who especially seemed to like smacking boys bare legs/ It really hurt.
And then all day i would get teased.
Te long walk home with red legs was never nice as I knew mum would have the hairnbrush, slipper or strap out straight away.

Frank,

I remember that time when Hot Pants came into fashion and the same brevity of our shorts were equally brief.
It seemed that girls weren't a figure of fun when wearing Hot Pants,but boys in short pants always remained one,with plenty of names like'shortie' pants and 'nappy pants'

WoW! James.It's a good while since I heard the word Chagrin!It brings out the emotion and dismay at that stage in your life.I was not allowed to wear longs until I was 14,this was 1971 at the time the female fashion of hot pants was popular and it was a extra humiliation to be called Hot Pants!

Charles,I expected to wear long trousers when I started my new school,but when my mother received the school uniform list it stated that boys'should wear long or grey short trousers'and much to my chagrin my mother that I should wear shorts.
I agree that we stood out more,mainly because,like you I was tall and my fellow pupils found it amusing to see a tall boy wearing shorts.
Also,when wearing shorts it gave an ideal target for teachers and parents to administer summary corporal punishment and as you say "it left embarrassing red marks.

Yes they were short. Also we were not allowed to have our long grey socks fall down . Thy had to be held up with garters. School rules at comp and infant middle that socks had to be up at all times.
I was also very tall and felt very visible with my shorts on. Certain teachers were also very inclined at smack boys legs when when they were in shorts, leaving an embarrassing red mark.
It was always a risk arguing with mum about me wearing shorts as she was not the type of lady to take kindly to such things.
When I did get home with legs marked from a teacher smacking she dealt with me straight away.

Charles,most boys at the school that I attended wore long trousers, mostly from the age of 11,so I was also in a minority wearing shorts for my secondary school that I attended.
If the shorts were absurdly brief like the shorts that I wore you would certainly feel the cold.

I didn't mind wearing shorts when everyone else at school was but when at comp and some wore shorts but most wore trousers I really didn't like that
I never really got used to the cold and wet especially at comp when it was virtually impossible to dry wet socks etc as we swapped rooms after every lesson.

Certainly I still wore short trousers until early 1961 when I was thirteen.

Back in the late 1950s and early 1960s, wearing short trousers all the time, whatever the season or weather, was normal for myself and almost every other boy I knew.

I particularly remember this being the case during the exceptionally long and cold Winter of 1962/63, when I was ten years of age and in the 'top' class at my primary school.

Each chilly morning my mother would ensure I put on a warm coat and scarf/gloves, then a woolly balaclava which covered most of my head, plus wellington boots.

But, strange as it may seem, there was never any thought given to swapping my usual short trousers for long ones.

Even stranger, my legs never felt cold, even if my hands and feet did. Perhaps all those years of wearing short trousers acclimatised my legs to the weather?

yes James, I vividly remember those red raw thighs in Winter.
I had about a three mile walk home from school. Part of that was over wide open parkland. It was freezing.
At home I always wore "house clothes" and I remember getting changed and warmed in front of the sitting room fire. We didnt have central heating back then
It was such a relief to warm your cold legs and feet by the fire

Tony H & Charles,

I also found it devastating to wear short pants to school and like ourselves,I'm sure others would found it so.
When complaining about the absurd brevity of the shorts,that was the fashion of the time and the longer style of shorts were out.
I agree they could be 'brutal'wearing them in cold weather,but as you say it used to'acclimatise us when
participating in sports in bitterly cold weather.
I remember my thighs were red raw in the winter and my legs were brown as berries in summer.
Knee stockings had to be held in place by tight fitting garters and the tops had to be turned over to show the bands of colours.
The worst part was was your bare thighs were red rawe

Similar memories Roy the teachers would move the crates next to the radiator it tasted dreadful!

When I was at Junior School in the 1950's the heating was very primitive to say the least and I remember the milk freezing with the cream being forced out of the top of the bottle.

Ross. Yes, we used to jump in puddles and try and splash as many other kids as poss. At school our socks dried on the radiators and we went barefoot

Ross - you had radiators! What luxury!

In junior school in the late 50s it was coal fires, and at Grammar School it was?? Some sort of central heating, I suppose - hardly very effective. I recall for a period in 4th form that a window was missing from one class-room.

Ahh yes I remember those cold soaking wet rain days. Walking to school I thought it was a brilliant idea to slash the puddles. Not so much liked it when I arrived at school and was told along with half a dozen others to take my socks off and work in bare feet while they spent the morning drying on the radiator.

Yes, on a wet day it was certainly possible to see who had walked or cycled to school as opposed to those who had caught the bus.
Getting wet on the way home wasn't too bad, but sitting in wet socks all day when it had rained on the way to school was not fun!