Clitheroe Royal Grammar School

John
Initially it was a shock! But then I was not alone, for there were another 17 of us newbies at the age 10 who were equally taken aback. But in all honesty it was never a problem after that first day. We all realised we had the same functional equipment down below and very soon got over any inhibitions we might have had. What was your own experience at school?

Gavin A,
How did you feel about having to swim naked at school?

Hi James
I vividly remember those grey shorts and long grey socks.
At secondary school, shorts were optional. They had been compulsory until then.
I was kept in shorts until 14, which i really didn't like. I wore garters to keep the socks up. Boy who wore shorts had to keep their socks up as we werent allowed to have them run down.
PE was always done in bare feet throughout school. At secondary we had white shorts and tshirt and strictly no underpants.

Thanks Gavin A

When you said bare feet etc for everything I thought you meant outside as well. I presume that in your school PE was just inside then, and that games meant outside.

I attended two state comprehensives where the terms PE and games were synonomous.

The PE activities for both were quite similar.

Boys:
Outside sports were rugby, footie, and cross country in the winter. Athletics and cricket in the summer. 'Normal' kit for those activities was worn although we didn't wear shin guards for footie or a mouth guard for football. We just wore our underwear underneath as well, including cricket. Cricket whites were only worn by the school team. I wasn't a member of the team so I didn't have to own any special stuff for cricket. Just our normal outdoor pe kit of white plimsolls, and white socks, shorts and t-shirt, which was either a house colour or white.

Inside was gymnastics in the winter and various potted sports in the summer. Bare feet usually compulsory and bare chest optional in my first school. Bare feet optional in my second school. I never saw bare chests in that school except when we changed, obviously.

In my first school, bare feet and chests were compulsory for the boys' gym team. The boys did no gymnastics in my second school, although it was available as a special lesson for the less behaved 'backward' boys.

Girls:
Cross country, hockey, rounders outside in the winter. Netball, rounders, tennis and athletics in the summer.

Inside was gymnastics and dance, and also potted sports all year round, from what I saw. This was all performed in leotards and bare feet in my first school except when they shared a lesson with us, in which case it was gym knickers, white aertex top and bare feet.

My second school was similar, except the girls could wear skirts, and were also allowed tracksuit bottoms in the winter and also when they had their periods. Most preferred gym knickers and white aertex top.

The girls also had a dance/aerobics club. This was 1980, 81, and 82. That seemed to be any old leotard or unitard, leg/ankle warmers, bare feet and red toe nails. Not sure if the red nail polish was compulsory or not but it was ubiquitous, as well as 'poshed up' hair.

Again, bare feet indoors was strictly compulsory in this school for the girls. The boys weren't expected to go barefoot for anything, but it was fully optional, which I did a few times when I felt like it. That was in a plastic floored sports hall. The floor was quite dusty, but nothing like as bad as the assembly hall in my previous school.

The girls sometimes did PE in the dining rooms (there were two) in that school. Again, bare feet, so that was probably a little unpleasant for them, like in my previous school.

Girls were also expected to go barefoot outdoors if they had no footwear. This was in the summer months, not winter. I saw girls playing tennis on tarmac courts and performing athletics on grass in the late spring and summer in their bare feet. This didn't seem to be a hardship for them and I'm sure that most of the time they went barefoot optionally rather than compulsorily.

Like you, we got used to bare feet pretty quickly. For my first year in my first secondary school, bare feet were optional for the boys, and a friend and I gave it a go at the end of that first year. I enjoyed the freedom and appreciated the practicality of it, but the gym had just been polished and varnished in readiness for the next school year, and the soles of my feet itched like hell after that lesson. No damage done, though. My friend was OK and had no problems.

At our first PE lesson the next year, we were told that bare feet were now compulsory. Luckily, my feet must have been already toughened up a little bit and I had no varnish problems that day, or ever again. The wood floor was absolutely freezing though, but by the next lesson I was used to that too.

Nobody else had any problems, or at least didn't complain if they had, although a few boys would moan a little bit and ask if they could wear their plimsolls (later on, trainers). The answer was usually 'no' although sometimes we would be allowed to wear them if we wanted. I remember reverting back to plimsolls and trainers the first couple of times, but then stayed barefoot after that. I'd decided that there was simply no point wearing footwear indoors, at least in the gym. We were never told in advance what the activity would be, which was a pity because if I'd known that a lesson was to be indoors I could have left my plimsolls, trainers, and socks at home, and maybe even my shirt too, and saved space in my school bag, and also a little weight. Yeah, I know it's not much weight, but it is when you've haven't started your growth spurt yet.

We were also sometimes indoors in the hall in that school, and it's floor was filthy. Again, bare feet was compulsory and our feet would get extremely filthy after lessons in there. I used to suffer a bit of mild itching on my soles, but nothing more than that. I think it was just sensory overload. I only went barefoot in there because it was compulsory. I wouldn't have gone barefoot by choice unless it meant I could have left most of my kit at home, as I said earlier.

Sorry for the long post. This subject seems to be one of those things that seems simple until you actually detail it and then you realise just how complicated it really is.

JSC
Gavin A

You had to have bare feet and chest for everything? Yes in the gym

May I ask how long it took for you and your schoolmates to get used to that? Very quickly it was no big deal as I recall

Also, what activities did you do in PE? Everything from boxing to vaulting horse, rooes to games like Swedish handball .. you name it

JSC
Gavin A

You had to have bare feet and chest for everything? Yes in the gym

May I ask how long it took for you and your schoolmates to get used to that? Very quickly it was no big deal as I recall

Also, what activities did you do in PE? Everything from boxing to vaulting horse, rooes to games like Swedish handball .. you name it

Gavin A

You had to have bare feet and chest for everything?

May I ask how long it took for you and your schoolmates to get used to that?

Also, what activities did you do in PE?

I experienced a short period of fairly strict PE in my school 'career', which I enjoyed, but nothing as strict as at your school. I would have been up for more if I'd had to do it though. I needed that physicality at the time. In fact, I suspect most young boys do. I wasn't the only one who liked obeying the rules, let's put it that way. I was 11 to 13, and this was the late 70's.

I don't feel that way about it all now, so it's interesting to me to look back and remember how different I was then.

Jack
We swam in the nude at school. I was also a boarder in an independent boys school in the late 60s early 70s. All PE and running was always done in just white shorts. Older boys, for very obvious reasons, were allowed jockstraps.
We had a swimpool and all swimming was done naked and swimtrunks were not allowed.

I was also a boarder in an independent boys school in the mid-late 60s. All PE and running was always done in just white shorts and slippers.
We had a swimpool and all swimming was done naked, whether lessons or just for leisure, swimtrunks were not allowed.
We often had female teachers supervising us at the pool.
Any other guys here who had nude swimming at school?

Frank S, I went to an independent school (I was a boarder)in the 1970s.

Having read about jock straps and support, I wonder if nowadays these are becoming obsolete. T he reason I say this is because when my son who is nearly 15 does PE they continue to wear their pants under there shorts .This may give some support. Then winter it seems to be pants shorts with track suit bottoms on top of that. Furthermore, their PE is completely different to mine in the late 60's. They do not do any gymnastics. PE is foot ball or cricket (depending on season) track & field and running around a large school field (cross country).

When I was at school PE was one lesson(Gymnastics ropes wall bars etc.) and in the same week we would have foot ball or cricket again seasonal.

Despite the gymnastics we were never told about wearing any support and bearing in mind we wore shorts and no underwear.

Even when we played cricket we were not told about wearing a box. In fact I did not know that there was such a thing until my friend in the first x1 cricket who played for the school told me that they existed.

If you got hit there "never mind carry on" finally of course compulsory showers which is another thing no longer provided.

Nick, well I was like your son, only wore my jockstrap for sport outside of school. No one wore them at school you see, and I wasn't going to be different. Totally different in my dad's time. Fashion dictates i am afraid, but glad that youngsters are beginning to have the sense to wear them again. What school did you attend and when did you attend if I might ask?

Frank S,
Yes I have children, they are in their 20s. I bought my son a jockstrap when he was 13, he wore it just a few times when playing squash with me but would not take it to school. I expect if his mates wore them he would have done too.
Like others have said I had Litesome jockstraps at school.

Nick, thanks for your message. He goes to an independent school in Hertfordshire. They play all sports really. His favourites being rugby and cricket. Do you have any children Nick?

Frank S
Good to hear that the jockstrap is making a comeback and that your son and his mates wear them. What sports does he play and what type of school does he go to?

Certainly think those compression shorts look absurd

In reply to Peter Melvyn,I agree"boys would not take kindly to compulsory grey shorts with long socks".
At the secondary school that I attended,the wearing of short trousers was not compulsory and there was no stipulation of the boy's age that he could wear shorts,so some like-minded parents would keep their sons in short trousers until they left school.
The shorts that I wore were similar to the ones you describe and in particular,were very brief coming well above my knees to leave virtually all of my thighs exposed to the elements.
Although I disliked being in the minority in shorts my parents relished the spectacle of seeing a teenager coming to terms and getting accustomed to wearing short pants as I grew older.

It seems that there are different types of shorts according to the sport, where basketball players wear long baggy shorts and rugby players brief tighter shorts. Many suppliers of uniform state "Bermuda" style school shorts which reach down to the knee or below. There are also Cargo shorts that have external patch type pockets. Looking at photos of me at 11 years old many years ago my grey shorts were very brief with much of my thigh showing. There are still prep schools that require short trousers to 13 years. I doubt if many boys at secondary schools now would take kindly to compulsory grey shorts with long socks. But fashions do change and short trousers may make a come back.

I agree with Arby and Sam. Most 6th formers were wearing a jockstrap (athletic support) for sport when I was at school. I read somewhere that these compression shorts are more restrictive, somewhat weightier, and not as good at dispelling heat. What a shame youngsters can't see beyond 'fashion'!

I agree with Sam Martin that the Litesome jockstrap was not hideous. It was very comfortable and sensible. I wore one through the 6th form and beyond. Cannot understand why they died out. Hopefully the jockstrap may come back before long.I agree that compression shorts are not as good.

So those are the shorts I see hanging down under football shorts. I though that they were some form of thermal underwear badly designed. I did not realise that they were to
give support.

How times and fashions change. I suppose it is because youngsters these days do not like to wear under or support that is designed like briefs or slips.

Pleased to hear that the litesome Jock strap has made a comeback.From a biological view it makes sense to wear such a support especially in adolescents.

Andrea - There's a report this year of another school which introduced 'gender neutral' dress regs - long trouysers or skirts - shorts are banned.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/chiltern-edge-school-uniform-policy-trousers-skirts-shorts-ban-a8382336.html

In an age where shorts are becoming more 'standard' wear for men (at least in summer) it seems that some people are still set in their ways: I only wish I could get away with them on the few few summer days I have to wear them!

Frank S

The Litesome jock wasn't hideous if you wore the right size. Nothing beats a jockstrap for comfort in sport, in my opinion. Lads today look rather absurd with their compression shorts hanging down from under their shorts!!

At least one school decided to introduce shorts as optional summer uniform:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/23/school-boys-wore-skirts-protest-introduce-shorts-summer-uniform/

Sam Martin, you are right about the jockstrap returning. My son wears them for sport mainly because his mates do at school. In my day it had disappeared. Just remmber my dad wearing a Litesome .. hideous looking thing ! Fashion rules the day hey!

Andrea

I remember reading that too, not sure of the outcome. You?

Andrea

I remember reading that too, not sure of the outcome. You?

I don't recall the wearing of short trousers being popular with my contemporaries at school.For the few who wore shorts were cast aside and were ridiculed.
I would have preferred to wear the longer style of shorts,but my parents had a preference for the short shorts which I didn't like wearing because they were chilly in cold weather and I was subjected to more teasing.

Following on from Peter's comments, I recall reading about a couple of schools where some of the boys had threatened to turn up at school wearing skirts as a protest about the girls having an option other than long trousers in hot weather!