Burnley Grammar School

Wearing only shorts for PE was ok indoors but not if the PE teacher picked you for the skins team for outdoor shirts vs skins football in the winter!

Our PE kit was white shorts and T-shirt so the teachers had an easy task in seeing if anything was being worn underneath ( although it didn't stop some trying). If caught you had to take them off in front of the rest of the class - the opportunity to remove them in the changing room had passed.

Although PE lessons where single sex the girls did have PE lessons at the same time, the prospect of having to remove them with girls potentially around certainly made you think twice about leaving your underpants on when getting changed.

Paul I remember the checking for boys wearing pants under shorts. My school did not stipulate what colour shorts were to be worn. Most wore white and as you say it was easy to check to see if pants were being worn. However some wore blue or black so pants were not easily detected. Teacher was not put off he had a system whereby he would call out one of the lads wearing dark shorts to stand out in front of the class and the teacher would ping back the elastic at the back just enough to get a glance of any pants. Woe betide anyone caught contravening the regulations. He made them go and remove the underwear and when the lad returned he got 6 of the best with his one of own plimsolls.
I think the walk to the changing room to dress correctly and then the walk back to receive the punishment was an deterrent in itself knowing what was waiting for you when you returned and was effective because it was only very rare for anyone to try and break the rules.

Vests and skins were normal for us too - 1960s grammar school, boys only.

After getting used to taking off underpants and communal showers vests and skins were something of the reverse to what most describe. A team would be told to put vests on as bare chest was the norm for anything regardless of indoors or out or whether it was sunny or snowing.

Running in shorts and plimsolls in the snow was fine and of course the colder it was the more likely there was to be a check for any boy wearing underpants. The norm for that was to face the wall and all bend over and of course through thin white shorts underpants could be seen clearly. Needless to say any boy caught had his bottom brought up to inferno temperature very quickly.

Showers were only ever cold and icy in winter but we just got on with it, it was the norm and plimsoll or worse still cane on icy cold and wet bottom was definitely to be avoided.

Hi Andrea, What's your views on schoolboys being stripped to the waist for PE. Do you think it's a good thing?

Reading JasonDL's post, I wondered whether boys at your school always had to take their tops off for PE, or just sometimes? I also attended an all boys school in the 80s and always wore a PE vest for my first two years. Then when I was 14 it all changed, we were put into sets instead of classes for PE, which meant larger groups of boys and vests against skins teams. I remember feeling so awkward and uncomfortable the first time I was told to take my vest off, like you I wasn't used to that. I was conscious of feeling very exposed and I think some of the other barechested boys felt the same.
What I didn't realise at first was that we had to remain in the same teams for the next few PE lessons as well... so I had to get used to being a skin! I suppose it was a kind of tough love, but it seemed unfair to me at the time, with other lads wearing their vests and me doing PE in just my shorts every time.

I think it was due to not being on the uniform list which stipulated a white PE vest. Despite bringing an ordinary vest for the next lesson the lad was kept in the skins team for the whole term. We always skins team vs vests. I only had a vest on literally a handful of times during all my years at school.

I was at an all boys school in the 80s and I remember one boy in my class getting really upset in the gym when he was told to take off his top. Turned out he had a birthmark on his chest that he was embarrassed about. Doubt anyone would have noticed if he hadn't drawn attention to himself, but after that everyone pointed to it each time he had to be shirtless!

I got to quite like having to be just in shorts for PE, it was more comfortable and free, even though I wasn't at all well built. Though at first it did feel a bit uncomfortable, because going barechested was not something I ever had done really (Swimming seemed different). Actually I noticed it more at the start of each PE lesson. For about the first 10 minutes I'd feel very conscious of how I was standing there completely stripped to the waist and wished I could put my shirt back on. But after a while you really didn't notice you had your shirt off.

I think it made us more self confident. Even birthmark boy got used to it in the end (I think)

I used to wear my normal vest for PE and not the special one with the school crest on on it.
When the teacher saw it like the guy Alex mentioned I was told to take it off and go stripped to the waist.
I got so used to it that I did PE stripped to the waist all the time thereafter both indoors and outside.

My dad wore string vest and pants in the 1970s. I can't recall the brand though.

Frank Chroston, I like your sense of humour.

Alex I wonder why the teachers took that course of action with that pupil. At our school when doing PE indoors it was not tops and shorts without anything underneath and the old black plimsolls. No socks. So minimalist not like today's lessons.

Thanks Alex for your memory.My string underwear of 1969 to 1970 was St Michaels.So was the grey school shirt I wore for school and at the grammar school the black long trousers.So it was one way I got full Marks in school!

One lad in my PE class wore a string vest for one term, he was simply told to strip to the waist until he had an ordinary vest by the PE teachers.

Thanks to Peter B.The String vest had a macho image and epitomised the average working man and boys in my class actually felt they wanted a part of this.The other vests and pants didnt cut the mustard. One of the characters in Coronation Street Stan Ogden was often seen in his string vest with no shirt.(played by Bernard Yeuens).

To Frank Chroston I remember the string underwear briefs and singlets. I do not think it is sold now in shops . Was marketed as cool in summer and warm in winter. How fashion has changed.

I was educated in the era that the majority of the interesting and diverse views are based on.I attended a Catholic Prep school in the Greater Manchester area,then part of Cheshire.1967-1971."Although i was not from an affluent family I found I was mixing with some footballers sons who lived in the area.We wore grey shorts as part of the school uniform.I remember the string underpants and vest,had a set of those in 1969.Some of my classmates and friends began to wear black or grey long trousers in the forth year of the Prep School.I was quite happy to carry on in my shorts until the end of that year.P.E.was held in the adjoining secondary school had a white vest,shorts and plimsolls.Showering was not compulsory and we were allowed to wear under garments.This changed when we went to the Upper School (grammar).Football was the main sport in the prep. and Athletics in the summer.For football we wore white shorts and red,blue,green or yellow shirts depending on which house you were allocated to.Red was Ashley.Blue was Dunham.Green Stamford and Tatton yellow. I was in the latter.In the Autumn and Spring terms,football sessions began to get rather muddy and most boys used the shower facilities provided not just to clan up but to warm up after the best part of an hour outside.So Autumn 1971 at the Grammar School. Red singlet white shorts and plimsolls.No under wear allowed. Punishment if you forgot your kit or towel.One boy had to perform the physical activities in his underpants for for not remembering to bring his kit on the right day!So rugby was the main sport this alternated with Cross - Country. This was a cantor round a golf course and a river valley. For both we had to shower after Games naked in the communal.Two of these fifty boys to one. It was very often steamy sweaty and smelly. Soap or shower gel was never used or shampoo.I remember a large sponge being thrown around! We had to stay in the showers until we were told to get out by the masters.I experience much body interaction due the cramped conditions.Once the two teams that lost the match had to get in the left shower block and the sports masters through cold water from two buckets of freezing water!!This caused a stampede effect within the shower with crushing and shoving, my bare frontage was wedged against another boys backside for a couple of minutes before I could extricate myself from this potentially homosexual position.!!

With 2 elder sisters money was tight and a vest was a lot cheaper to buy. Not long after starting comp teacher called me back and suggested my vest was too small and as I tended to sweat up quickly it made sense not to wear a vest. I accepted this and stripped to the waist until I left school. Sensible teacher, practical teaching.

I completely agree with Roy's comments. I suspect that many of the teachers would have also seen the trauma suffered by unfit recruits and would probably do all they could to spare others.

To Tom1 - its simply how things were in those days - we just accepted it and got one with things - as you would!

You have to remember that in the 1950s and 1960s many of the teachers had served in World War 2 or had done National Service in places such as Korea Cyprus and various outposts of colonialism and were toughened up by this experience.
They expected their charges to be tough as well and indeed in the 1950s the boys would have to do National Service themselves at a later stage.They would see real fighting and ran the risk of injury or even death so the teachers thought they needed to be toughened up.

Hi Tom 1, If you weren't sweating you weren't trying. The girls never objected to seeing us stripped down regardless of the temperature or activity. We boxed without vests too. Just as it should be.

Tom 1 you should be thankful. Decades ago the law permitted teachers to dish out punishments no Prisoner would receive under law!
I now realise one of my PE teachers was probably suffering from undiagnosed PTSD from the War years previous.
He was a total nutter, responsible for putting many of his students off Sport for life.

It's interesting seeing these comments. I left school this year and compared to everyone here my experience couldn't have been more different. PE was always done in shorts and a t shirt and trainers. We used coloured bibs to differentiate between teams. We had shower cubicles in which we showered in private. We had swimming lessons in the school pool, for which we wore swimwear- absolutely shocked at some people claiming they did it naked. I guess I should be grateful for the faculties and regulations we have today!

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.