Burnley Grammar School

William. I agree that's the way it was in he 60's. We all got used to showering together. As you say by the age of 14 the shorts did not cover much. In those days I recall you the pe shorts had to last for several years. Parents could not afford to buy new ones very often.

Also re showers as others say if a teacher was present we took no notice. He was just there to keep order and obviously was not going to do anything untoward when there were a crowd of lads together.

Agreed Tim, that was the whole point about wearing just shorts, we didn't need anything else, and didn't it feel great with the sweat running down! I really looked forward to the showers afterwards.On the subject of which, after the first PE lesson, realising I had to go in the open communal showers I was embarrassed about taking my shorts off and being naked in front of the other boys, but I very soon overcame my inhibitions and took it all for granted.

The expectation was you would sweat indoors and boy we did. No vest was quite rightly mandatory for all PE, gym or outdoors, regardless of conditions or temperature.

Having to go nude in a group for the communual shower for the first time was certainly daunting!

Derek,I agree with Roy and Neil. Felt embarrassed the first time but this was a boys' grammar school in the '60s and we had to get on with it. It helped that we were all treated the same: no vests, nothing under shorts and communal nude showers.

The showers were not much use, Michael. We all had to strip and then walk under a shower in single file, as close as possible to the boy in front. At least we got the tops of our heads wet. Gym master supervised. He was terrifying but emphatically no pervert.

We kept our shorts for as long as possible and by the time we were 14 they didn't cover much but we thought nothing of it. It was just the way it was.

I was far more concerned about the temperature of the water in the showers, which was determined by the teacher. Depending on the amount of hot water available sometimes it was warm, but at other times bone-chillingly cold. But, whatever temperature it was, we had to have a proper shower using bars of soap, including washing our hair. Occasionally some smart-alec tried a quick run-through under the shower heads, but they were always sent back - there was no escape. Rumour had it that there was a correlation between the water temperature and the PE teacher's mood, but I was never convinced of that.

Derek

No, not at all. Initially maybe but after awhile it became the norm.

I was embarrassed the first time I had to shower naked in front of the other boys but soon got used to it and eventually took no notice of the other boys and I assume they took no notice of me.

We always did PE in white vest and white shorts, our standard PE uniform, but we always had to take everything off for showers afterwards under the supervision of our PE teacher.
Did anyone here find it embarrassing being naked in front of other boys and teachers?

Like Roy I had a shock when I got to secondary school and was told we did PE stripped to the waist but I soon got used to it and went stripped to the waist until I left school.

I too had a shock when arriving at secondary school being told I had to do PE and cross-country stripped to the waist.
But I soon got used to it and did PE bare-chested right up to and including sixth form.

NickK, Our PE teacher had 3 favourites (I was one) who he picked to strip every lesson.The first time I stripped facing the class and never had a vest on again until leaving after A levels.

Like KieranT, it was quite a shock when I arrived at my all boys secondary school and discovered that we had to strip down to shorts for PE. The teacher I had in first form insisted on shorts only in the gym, even though the school uniform list stipulated vest, socks and plimsolls. The shorts tended to be very short in those days and it made me feel very vulnerable and naked (I was quite a shy boy and not especially good at PE). But, as others have commented, it made me grow in self-confidence in time. In second form, our PE teacher allowed the full kit but shirts and skins was the norm for any team game indoors or in a covered area we had outdoors. But the choice of shirts and skins was not entirely random and some boys seemed to be chosen a lot more often to strip down.

Dominic,wearing shorts was more comfortable and practical when wearing them for games,but the fashion of the 80's meant that shorts were much shorter than the 60's.
Although,it was not compulsory to wear short trousers for school,I had to wear them for school and home.
With their absurd brevity it meant that you could freeze when wearing them in the winter.
We wore just a pair of shorts for games in the gym even when sharing it with the girls.

Ryan - I'm glad you enjoyed p.e. and cross country in the 80s in just a pair of shorts as I did in the 60s. You sum it up very well - the minimal kit and freedom from a restrictive uniform. My school always seemed to be overheated in winter so it was a great relief to change into a pair of shorts and run around, inside or outside bare chested and barefoot - it didn't matter how cold it was.
I think we had just one boy in the class who was a little shy about his body but he soon got used to it and no-one ever made any effort to cover themselves.
Most of us thought it was very "grown up" to be so scantily clad but the teacher sold it to us very well in the first lesson. All but one of our p.e. teachers were very encouraging and appreciated effort more then ability. I was never very good at p.e. but thoroughly enjoyed it all the same.

Kieran, I was fascinated to read your post as it summed up perfectly how I felt when I had to do shirts and skins in PE.
The whole thing came as a shock to me too - I remember one boy actually asked the teacher what 'skins' meant and he replied: "Skin. No vest, no nothing" which was pretty accurate, if not gramatically correct! I still wasn't sure until I realised a couple of my friends were suddenly stripped to the waist.
Like you, I recall clearly that sense of feeling like I was totally naked the first time I had to be a skin, and also crossing my arms over my chest to cover up. And being teased about my obvious discomfort!
I also became more confident over time, to the extent that I actually came to enjoy doing sports barechested. My feelings are the same as yours with hindsight - I benefited in the long term from shirts and skins but it would have been much fairer to have every boy dressed the same.

Interesting memories! I went to an allboys school in the very early 90's, and in PE we usually did indoor team sports in the sports hall like basketball or football.

Official PE uniform was white shorts and white T shirts (plus white plimsolls with white socks), but we always had to play shirts and skins. I only went to that school when I was 12/13 and I hadn't come across that system before. At first I assumed you could choose which you wanted to be, so I was horrified to discover it was random.

I think it was the second or third lesson before my team was told they were to be skins. I was so shy the first time I had to take my T shirt off and leave it on the floor at the side of the gym, and stand about with my puny chest exposed. I felt really naked and self conscious with no shirt on, and I would cross my arms over my chest and try to cover up! Naturally the others soon noticed how uncomfortable I was stripped to the waist and would tease me even though half of them were as shirtless as me. Of course in the end I slowly got more confident about it. In fact in summer term we had to do gymnastics and we were encouraged to not wear our tops for that, though it wasn't compulsory. Mainly due to peer pressure even I would in the end go barechested for that, though I usually waited as long as possible before losing my T shirt.

Of course now it sounds crazy that I was so nervous about the whole thing, and I was definitely far more sensitive about being without my top than most of the other boys. But in hindsight it was good I was made to do it. In some ways it might have been easier if the whole class always had to be topless, instead of only the skins team.

In the 1960's it was normal to do PE and also cross-country stripped to the waist. Many boys were barefoot as well even for cross-country.

I can very much relate to Steve's experiences as my PE lessons in an rather old fashioned school in the 80ies were quite similar. All PE, athletics and cross-country lessons were conducted with boys in white shorts only.
In the beginning it did indeed feel strange but quite quickly I came to enjoy all the PE activities and the limited kit that went with it.
Why? it was very simple, you just took your shorts, hardly anything to forget. Being stuck in a quite restrictive school uniform all day long, running around in bare feet/bare chest gave me feeling of intense freedom. As for outside activities, I never felt cold, you only got cold if you didn't move and in these days our teachers made very much sure you did move. You also felt quite grown up and manly and in my case at least, it did make me aware of my body. Probably an effect of being surrounded by other barechested boys all the time, I knew I wanted to look OK, not like the fat kid in class or too skinny, and I did put a lot of effort into my work.
I thouroghly enjoyed my PE lesson, the limited kit worked very much for me and I think it's a shame today's boys are made to cover up. Maybe Brexit can help us recover some good old-fashioned customs like the British boys traditional PE uniform.

I still see shirtless guys everywhere at school.. just not during gym class proper haha. It's like a dress code thing during school hours. For everything else like cross country, gymnasts, marching band or whatever you're pretty much guaranteed to see most of the guys with their shirts off training! And it's a good look for young guys you won't hear me complain!

When we go on our annual running camp, you can bet minimal clothing is the standard attire and from what I see, it's the same for other teams. Coach tells us to wear whatever we're comfortable running in so all the boys go bare chest and most of the girls are in sports bras. We'll be on the bus going to the trail and we'll pretty much strip off our tops right there before getting off and stay like that for the whole day of activities. We feel totally at ease seeing so much bare skin on display all the time, in fact its kinda boring lol.. Just part of our runner subculture but i'm sure to someone else it may be weird but believe me a few days running in that temperature and your shirt will come off real quick!

So I dont think people are much more inhibited than they were in the old days. I just think different situations and groups and subcultures have different expectations!

Steve, it sounds like your school had a harsh regime with regard to PE. It's not something I can identify with as my experiences of PE and cross country in the early 90s were rather different!
I'm intrigued to know why you feel boys should be restricted to just shorts for PE kit. Maybe in the gym that might make sense - but outdoors, in winter? Seriously? Is that meant to be character building or something?

To Ian,

The question of corporal punishment in school medicals never arose for the medics. Where there was a big group of boys there were alwsys members of staff present, usually in the school gym or hall.

It wasn't unusual that you would see one of them with a cane but it was fairly unusual that it would be used though I do remember one occasion when a group of lads were bent over and there was some element of horseplay in the line up I was working my way along the rear of.

The master present very politely asked me to stand back and he worked his way swiftly along the line delivering four strokes each. That calmed the horseplay and as I resumed my checks there was some involuntary jumping as my hands spread the now very sore buttocks to inspect. Though put it into perspective, that was once in the course of many hundreds of school medicals.

I posted below that we ran cross country in only shorts. Our course was woodland tracks, fields, a stream, plus a small amount of unmade roads.

It did seem strange at 11 to be told that we had to strip down to the waist and have bare feet outside, but your feet soon got used to the conditions. It wasn't open to debate anyway, and if you had worn plimsolls or a vest you would have been made to take them off, and caned as soon as you got back.

I don't see any reason why a lad needs anything other than shorts inside or out really, and certainly there is no need for anyone to wear a vest/t-shirt or trainers in the gym.

We always had to shower after any sport/pe, and a refusal, or keeping shorts/pants on would have resulted in us back in the gym, stretched over the gym horse to receive 6 hard strokes of the cane.

Ross,interesting that you were in school at at a time which I consider fairly recent, wearing minimal PE kit as we had to wear. However, your cross country runs were in the safe confines of your school grounds, away from prying perverts with their mobile phones. In my school days, we ran stripped to the waist through woodland over fairly rough terrain and chalk and sharp flint hillside, obviously considered unsafe for bare feet. Fortunately our plimsolls didn't seem to get muddy probably because the chalk gives good drainage. It doesn't explain why we had to wear to wear plimsolls in the gym; I would have have been more than happy wearing just shorts. The only 'shock'I had, probably in common with the rest of my class, was having to take my shorts off after the first PE lesson and go naked in the open showers, but there again, we very soon got used to it and after being made to work up a sweat each lesson looked forward to a decent shower to freshen ourselves up.

To Ian

You say that your school doctor was authorised to administer corporal punishment. Under what circumstances was this necessary?

Steve - I think you are right about running cross country barefoot and stripped to the waist being normal. I was at grammar school in the 60s and that was how we did all p.e. including cross country. Very sensible really - no wet muddy plimsolls to deal with - dirty feet are so much easier to get clean and dry. It was a little challenging at times but most of the time I thoroughly enjoyed it and no-one came to any harm.

Rob, I attended middle school in the late nineties early 00s and during this time I switched schools. My first middle school I wore tee, shorts, trainers and socks for pretty much all activities in or out except the obvious like gymnastics. So for me when I switched schools part way through year 6 it was a shock to the system to start doing all PE barefoot and it really was all PE in or out including the cross country which was done within the school grounds we ran around the main building and the muddy fields. Suppose this saved time washing muddy trainers and in fact I began to enjoy it. During the summer it was always a welcome relief to be outside doing athletics barefoot on the cool grass. This barefoot practice continued right upto high school which was only a few streets away.

To "The Doc". Thankyou for your entry. It brought home to me the difficulty of examining over a thousand boys in a secondary school such as mine in the 60s. Originally boys were called individually and told to change into PE shorts only, and to remove them when needed. Then the doctors trialled a new approach, retaining the individual approach for half the boys, while the rest were called class at a time to strip completely naked well in advance. We had to stand in full view of the doctors until called forward. Eventually the fully naked regime was introduced for all boys.
By the way, were you authorised by the headmaster to use corporal punishment, as our doctors were? Seeing a heavy belt in the doctor's bag really put the fear of God in me.

Rob, middle school for me was from 1998 till 2002 I started one middle school which the kit was shorts, tee and trainers so was a shock to the system when I switched schools part way through when I was in year 6 at my new middle school all PE was done barefoot in and out including cross country which was ran in winter in the school grounds. In the summer months we did athletics and rounders which was always a pleasure to do in bare feet.

At grammar school in the 60's we just wore shorts for pe and cross country.

We had 2 pe lessons a week, one inside and one a cross country run. Even in the winter we ran with bare feet and stripped to the waist. This was the same for all years, and we just regarded it as normal.

I think many schools had the same minimal kit, certainly the other secondary schools in my home town made boys run outside in all weathers, with bare backs and bare feet.