Burnley Grammar School

As a kid going on holiday to the Sussex coast, all I, and all other boys, ever wore in the sea was a pair of brief trunks, even at the beginning and end of the season. Go back there now, and lots of kids are to be seen in wet-suits and rash-vests, even on the hottest days. Wimps, or what!

Ross,
I was more comfortable doing PE shirtless, males don’t usually wear a shirt to go swimming so I think that there’s no point in wearing a shirt when you’re doing an activity that makes you hot and sweaty.

John, I think ultimately given a choice I'd have worn shirt but it was alright I didn't really mind. I think most boys were more concerned about having bare feet.

Ross,
Did you mind doing PE in just shorts or would you have preferred to wear a shirt as well?.

Looks like a lesson of mine from the 90s! Except we were all barefoot too.

I can also remember a PE teacher who drove out to the furthest point of a cross country though it was in his blue Vauxhall Viva and I can still see the number plate on it. He also used to tick a list though how he saw anyone through the thick cloud of cigarette smoke in the car used to amaze me.

He also used to smoke as he ran on the few occasions he ran with us. I do remember on more than one occasion running right behind him and wondering why he would wear a rugby shirt and quite visibly through his white shorts, underpants when we were allowed neither not of course that I or anyone else dared ask.

We were in shorts and plimsolls only regardless of the weather.

On return there was a dose of the plimsoll for anyone who was not ticked off the list and if it was a second offence the plimsoll was replaced with the cane.

We had a second PE teacher too who taught me for about half my time at school. He was far more fit and healthy, he did everything he had us do, I never saw him with a cigarette, he was always stripped to the waist and running behind him he didn't wear underpants. I much preferred him to the other one.

To Michael and Rob.

If that teacher thought that the lads were a bunch of softies, he could have set them an example by going out stripped to the waist himself.

Michael - you do seem to have got off quite lightly with the kit you were allowed to wear for cross country. We always ran stripped to the waist and barefoot as others commenting here did. Bare feet were practical as the route took us through muddy parts and I'm sure I wasn't the only one that was glad to not have to clean plimsolls afterwards.
There were a few times each winter when we didn't really warm up but most of the time we would certainly not have wanted to wear more than our shorts.
One p.e. teacher had a little moped and he would sometimes come and check on us though I don't think he ever ticked us off on a list. I wasn't aware of any-one ever trying to cut out part of the route - it wouldn't have been easy. The route took us through woodlands and along the edges of fields all of which surrounded a golf course - there would probably have been complaints to the school if any-one had dared to run across the golf course.

Michael, If your PE teacher thought you were all a bunch of softies who needed toughening up he should have sent you out stripped to the waist every time like most of us here.

Our PE teacher routinely sent whole classes of us boys out on cross country runs.

The weather made no difference. In fact, the worse the weather, the better he liked it, as he often remarked that we were a bunch of softies who needed toughening up.

In winter, wearing only gym shorts/vests and plimsolls, it was sheer torture, but we had to do it.

Meanwhile he would stay in school, presumably making a mug of coffee before sitting down to read the newspaper.

Occasionally he would venture out in his big Ford Zodiac, and park up at the turning point of the run, to tick off our names as we ran past. We could never predict when he would do this, so the only safe option was to run the entire exhausting distance, every time.

After driving back to school, his oversize gym shoe would be made ready, to welcome back anyone whose name hadn't been ticked off.

Happy days? I didn't think so!

Thanks for the link Sterling.Always quite fancied Jane Asher!

Our PE teachers certainly didn't join us in stripping down.

In winter they were wearing layers of clothing, topped off with an overcoat!

It reminds me of the PE clip in the Movie 'Deep End' a 1970 British drama starring Jane Asher and John Moulder Brown.
Although Moulder Brown and his classmates are allowed vests and socks with pumps to protect their feet from the snow covered ground. The teacher is wrapped up warm in a similar overcoat to that of my PE teacher. And possibly leather gloves if my memory serves me right.

If a teacher's policy was that his classes did PE stripped to the waist, then he should have applied the same policy to himself. It's good to read that some did.

Andy. Our history/PE teacher would wear black shorts (we wore white) and white plimsolls (we were barefoot). I don't ever remember him coming on XC. He coached rugby at the senior level in the school but was in kit/tracksuit for that. He wasn't slow to resort to the strap (we had strap rather than cane) and you could very quickly end up bending over feet apart for a really hard three or four whacks. Even junior boys who usually got the slipper for minor infractions of gym rules. But he was very popular with boys.

NickK,Frank C,John
When I started at grammar school in 1955 two of our PE teachers looked elderly,although probably only in their fifties and the other one was younger, but much stricter. When I was in the sixth form a very young looking teacher arrived to teach geography. Like your teacher, NickK, he occasionally substituted in the gym when our PE master was called away.We had already seen him doing athletics on the playing field wearing a brief pair of running shorts and vest, but when he took our PE class he stripped to PE shorts, the same as us, and joined in as though he was one of the boys.In fact, although he was probably about five years older than us, some of the lads were bigger built than him. He came on a cross country run with us a couple of times and always joined us in the showers afterwards to freshen up before going off to take a geography class.

NickK

Did your history/PE teacher strip to only his shorts - so no shirt, bare feet, no boxers/briefs. I assume you wore white PE shorts, so did his match ?

What about when you ran xc, did he take it, did he strip, did he run ?

Matthew. We had a young history teacher who very occasionally substituted in the gym when a PE master was away. He would always strip to shorts (just like we were). He was a very popular teacher but was a ferocious strapper. On the hands in the classroom and on the backside in the gym. You certainly didnt want to cross him!

Andy, just to clarify - initially we didn't have to strip to the waist for cross country. By the time that happened (in the summer term) we'd had two terms of doing indoor PE in shorts only. So it was probably less of a shock than at the outset, when it first dawned on us we'd have to do the lesson with bare chests and bare feet. I remember standing there feeling quite exposed and vulnerable at first and I know many of the other boys did too.

Our P.E. Master was the first adult I saw with a tattoo when he removed his top joining in with gymnastic exercises.He was also ex military and always had his hair cropped short like a soldier.I think he was a good role model for the boys and was like Action Man come to life!

Replying to Matthew, 17th February.

Yes, Our PE Teacher quite often stripped to the waist to take lessons, to demonstrate the muscle groups in the upper body, and would often join in any team games - if he was stripped to the waist he would join the "skins" team , and if he had his tracksuit top on, then he'd play for the "vests".

He was ex-army (PTI) and a former Police officer , so he was used to it , and a strict disciplinarian.

Angus

How did boys react when they had got used to wearing a nice warm sweatshirt for cross country, then to be made to strip to the waist ?

Andy and NickK, that's pretty much the way it was at my school (all boys) in the early 90s. First two years we wore the full PE kit as set out in the school handbook - vest or t-shirt, shorts, socks and trainers. In fact for cross country there was even the option of adding a sweatshirt! Well, it all changed the following year, when we did PE in sets rather than form groups. My set got a different teacher who was new to the school, so none of us lads knew what to expect. We soon discovered he was old-school and big on discipline. Our first PE lesson of the year was in the gym and straight away he made us strip to the waist and go barefoot. Initially vests (not T-shirts and certainly not sweatshirts!) were still permitted for cross country, as were socks and trainers. However, in the summer term, we had to take our vests off as well. This was the way it stayed right through until I did GCSEs and eventually I got used to it.

Andy, I had two different teachers with different attitude towards footwear. In year 9 we had A more lenient teacher that didn't care what you had on your feet as lo g as they were white and clean. From year 10 onwards we had a stricter teacher that insisted on us being barefoot for all PE in or out.

Our kit was supposed to be a vest, shorts, plimmies too. However we quickly discovered otherwise and were quickly told to strip off. If those lads in the photo had our teacher they'd start to sweat up early on in the session. Being at a mixed school it was a very common sight for girls to see lads stripped off and visibly sweating.

NickK

Did you have the same situation with cross country - different teachers, different kit.

Did your classmates "worry" about stripping to only shorts having been used to full kit ?

Andy

Andy. The PE teacher we had in first form insisted on shorts only in the gym even though socks, plimsolls and vest were on the kit list and bought by all our parents. A different PE teacher in second form expected us to wear the full kit. And when we had the same chap as in first form when we were in fifth form it was back to shorts only!

Matthew,
Sometimes our male PE teachers did conduct lessons stripped to the waist.

I think Mr. Parry should have conducted his lessons stripped to the waist

Did anyone have different kit rules depending on the PE teacher ?

So, were some more strict that others, and thus did different classes wear more kit for PE and cross country than others.

NickK, The photo all looks very staged. Next time they had PE perhaps they would have been a lot more attentive to what Mr.Parry what was instructing them if they all had to sit on the floor as we did, in regular lines with our legs straight out in front and our arms resting behind us. In addition we would have felt the sweat running down. These boys don't look as if they have been worked as hard as we were.