Burnley Grammar School

I know that most of us who have left comments experienced pe in the 50's late sixties. I know things have changed with regards to pe kit inasmuch as nowadays it is tops & shorts & underwear allowed. I know that we were put through a strict regime, as many of us has said with cross country runs etc. but what of today is it easier. aAre the physical demands the same? Any present day students able to comment?

I think that being stripped to the waist did instil discipline in boys particularly when being bare-chested on cross country runs in neighbouring roads

In the fifties and sixties I for one certainly did cross-country both stripped to the waist and bare-foot.Many of the other lads did the same.By the time we left school a few of the lads(myself included)had developed hairy chests and were quite muscular.

Judging by the comments posted here, it srikes me that a lot of you suffered under the cohort of ex military people who were recuited into teaching after the war. We had a few in our school who were definitely somewhat unhinged and fortunately for me were not part of the PT department. When I left school (all boys) aged 18 in 1972 things were becoming a little more relaxed and the last swishes of the cane were dying away (I can still feel it however!)
PT was still done much as we see in the photo, we had singlets and shorts with coloured stripes on the side, as juniors no underwear was the norm but I don`t remember it being a rule as such, after age 13 or so we all wore the old cotton Litesome jockstrap, again there was no rule, we just did. Communal showers were the norm as well and I don`t recall any problems.
When I look back, it was certainly pretty spartan, but on the whole it was a good time.

Back inthe 60's we were required to wear shorts and tennis shoes.NO underclothing was permitted, but a shirtcould beworn. You COULD NOT wear your street clothes to PE, and if you did,you were not allowed to pass on the course, but to strip off NAKED and do PE that way..Not many forgot their shorts and shoes because of being afraid to disrobe. I cannot remember of any time that the familyor school administration had any problem with that. And yes, this was an all male class, with no chance of women coming into this area.

Dave & Roy,
I have looked at most of the previous peoples comments & the only conclusion I can come to having read them, is that we are nearly all from the era when we were not so inhibited about our bodies. As you say rules were rules & that was that. I know my parents were told that we did pe with no underwear & no top. No one queried it. Furthermore, most senior schools were single sex so there was not the logistics of running separate classes for pe & no risk of anyone of the opposite sex seeing any one changing. As for showers one big open area with several shower heads & no worries about seeing each other undressed let alone without a shirt. It was all part of growing up. Nowadays boys are too inhibited.

I went to an all-boys school in the 19970s. Like the boys in the photo, our PE was always done stripped to the waist. It was no use "forgetting" kit to get out of the lesson because the teacher had a supply donated by boys who were leaving or who had grown out of theirs. The teacher in the picture is wearing a tee-shirt and socks whereas our teacher wore track pants and a tee-shirt and sometimes a tracksuit top. I always felt that what was good enough for us should have been good enough for him.

"I wnet with the family to a swimming pool of course teen boys just wear short. so what is the difference in doin pe this way?"

There is no difference.
Do they wear shirts for mixed swimming classes? No. That's why I can't see why boys are allowed to wear T-shirts nowadays in most schools for PE.

Tyrone:-if teachers tell boys to strip to the waist for PE then they should be stripped to the waist with no questions asked.As you say you often see lads stripped to the waist in streets etc so what's the problem.

I am assuming teenage lads would resent it if they were asked to go bare top for pe these days. However, at the weekend when I wnet with the family to a swimming pool of course teen boys just wear short. so what is the difference in doin pe this way?

In my time boys were stripped to the waist for PE as soon as they started at junior school when they were seven.This went on until they left secondary school at either sixteen or eighteen.

GD:While still in primary school we used to see the boys from the nearby secondary school running bare-chested.We knew that when we went there we too would be stripped to the waist for games etc and we regarded it as perfectly normal.

Having read the various comments , i can tell you in the sixties our P E was shorts, plimsolls & nothing else. Our shorts were white & the teacher said so we could not wear anything underneath without it showing, bearing in mind we all wore briefs those days.

One boy tried to keep his pants on Fool! The teacher was not daft. On the whole we enjoyed pe & I think enjoyed the freedom of wearing less clothes bearing in mind that for the rest of the day it was strictly uniform blazers & shirts & ties & we were only allowed to remove blazers if extremely hot weather. Anyone else eperince this?

To Sid:-This was in the fifties/sixties and we worfe nothing under our shorts.We wore house shorts which were white.

To the 2 peopl;e named Mark, you say stripped to the waste for pe what era. I presume the pe kit was shorts & nothing worn underneath. In our school the colour of shorts was determined by the "House" you were in. White , Blue,Black. Were yours the same?

Yes Mark Smith I was bare-foot as well as stripped to the waist.

Mark Jones:-Were you barefoot as well as stripped to the waist?

Dave, T-shirt's aren't better. It's the designer clothes and PC brigade at work who'll tell you otherwise because they're making money. A vest, or better still, a bare chest are still the most effective tops. Boys, if given the chance would relish the opportunity to strip to the waist for exercise. It would also solve these "issues" (excuses!) once and for all.

Again I did PE stripped to the waist in the sixties.Thought nothing of it.Boys stripped to the waist.End of story.

At Junior school during the period 1957to 1961 pe mainly was indoors except for hot summer days & for boys was in vests(singlets) & grey school shorts which every boy wore irrespective of the time of year. However, the girls wore a vest & had to remove their skirts & do pe in their underwear. As far as I can recall, there was no complinats about the inequality between boys & girls de rigeur. That just how it was.

Secondary school was a different regime boys only school & pe was indoors & out depending on the weather, & was short tight white shorts (no underwear which would have shown through) & bare top, but we wore plimsolls with no socks. Finished off with communal showers. NO worries or thought about boys seeing each other naked. But it seems this is an issue for lads these days.

I don't think boys really care about having to be shirtless for P.E. so I can't see why most schools changed that. Even vests are vanishing from nowadays schools and they wear T-shirts for gym. Why T-shirts are better?

Yes I was sent to Borstal when I was sixteen and yes I wa stripped to the waist when at Wormwood Scrubs for assessment and at Portland when serving my sentence and working as a gardener

Like Craig my first experience of being stripped to the waist was also on my first day at primary school aged about 5 when I had a medical.Afterwards I started doing PE stripped to the waist both in and out of doors.This continued throughout my school career until I left at the age of nearly 19

Borstal Boy:- Judging from yourI/D you susequently served a sentence of Borstal Training. Am I right and if so did you have to do PE and/work while stripped to the waist

When I was fourteen I was sent to a detention centre for three months.On my first morning there I had to do thirty minutes P E while stripped to the waist and barefoot.This was outdoors at 6 a.m. and was followed by a cold shower.I had previously been stripped to the waist for P E since I was about nine or ten but this was something else!!!

My first experience of being stripped to the waist at school was on my first day at primary school when we had a medical.I then did P E stripped to the waist reegulary so when I went to secoonday school and learned we had to do gym etc stripped to the waist I just got on with it.

I also remember having to do P E stripped to the waist at school.Also as punishments I had to stand outside in freezing weather stripped to the waist and barefoot for at least an hour.

I also had to do PE outdoors stripped to the waist in the hard winter of '62-63 with snow on the ground

At my school in the sixties some boys engaged in unofficial boxing fights and for those they were always stripped to the waist.(Up till then I had believed that only professional boxers stripped to the waist for fights).

I also was always stripped to the waist for P E and again I enjoyed the freedom of being bare-chested.Again it was normal and all the other lads were stripped to the waist and many including myself were also bare-footed.