Burnley Grammar School

Rob, yes other men wore them at the baths. I didn't really think much of it at the time because of that - older men didn't seem to wear them, just the younger ones.

The slips were only worn for swimming. For PE and football we wore shorts

Archie, it seems that these slips were not uncommon as your masters and other posters wore them. You mentioned earlier that you suspected the design was linked to post war rationing so you must have thought they were obviously very brief. Did other members of your father's club wear them and how did you feel about seeing him wearing one?

Re slips - just for swimming and then only by masters. Normal PE was black shorts, worn commando, and white plimsoles.

With regards to string slips, this is about all some young ladies wear these days either on the beach or a swimming pool. Two pieces of material held together by String

About string slips, I remember seeing some old pictures of the Victorian era which were commonly worn then for PE and also athletics and other sports, though I never heard of them being used in our era. So I guess that this was a tradition which was kept in some schools as previous posters have mentioned.
What I would like to know from these posters is if they were only worn for swimming or also for other PE or sports activities.

It was King Edward VI Grammar in Chelmsford

Hi Amy,

I stayed in my knickers. Most because this is what I was used to and my mum wouldn't buy a leotard, frightened that it would only be used once a week. I think most other mums thought the same way.

Hi Kate

Did you move to a leotard or continue in just your knickers? Strange that if the school offered knickers or leotards they didn't allow vests and knickers for girls from yr 4 upwards,

Archie and Gerald
Can you tell us the names of your respective schools please?
I was not expecting anyone to have heard of these tie slips, let alone experience of wearing them/seeing them.

Hi Amy,

In primary school I only wore my knickers without a vest and bare feet. Lessons were mixed and we changed in our classroom and walked to the hall. When we reached Year 4 we're were given the option of a leotard to wear or continue as we were. Most girls continued as they were.

Hi Kate

Yes it was a shock but a good one when I moved up and could suddenly wear clothes in PE!! Some of the girls hated having to wear a little leap red but for me it was brilliant!

So you did PE in just your underpants in primary school? So no veat or anything on top? Was this girls only or mixed?

Amy, your primary school years PE in the nude sounds incredible. Quite amazing what schools could get away with back then.

I know in my lessons I just wore my underpants and looking back I thought that was bad.

It must have been a shock to the system when you moved up schools. Did you try and carry on practicing PE nude or did you have a kit?

Hi Andrea

Yes our male teacher in today's yr4 took us for PE. Again, this seems incredible looking back but then it was just accepted that we didn't wear anything for PE, and our teacher took the lesson.

Hi Amy,
Did your male teacher take you for PE lessons in Year 4, or were they always taken by a female?

We would sometimes have a male teacher supervise us for mixed boys and girls PE at Primary School, but we only had to strip down to vest and pants before putting on or PE kit (T shirt and shorts or skirt).

Hi Willy

Yes, totally serious. It certainly wasn't a nudist school (I didn't know they even existed!) but that was how we had to do indoor PE. I think because we did it right through the school we didn't think about it too much, it was just what we were used to. As I sad, looking back now it seems amazing that less than 30 years ago it happened. We had a couple of male teachers, but mostly women. I had a male teacher for my class when I was in what would now be year 4, ages 8-9

Amy, are you serious, doing PE naked all through primary school?
I actually never heard of this, unless it was a nudist school.
Did you have male teachers at the shool, and was there corporal punishment?
I am surprised that parents did not complain.
Did they give a reason why you had to do PE completely naked, and how did you girls feel about it?

Hi Andrea

Yes, it was basically primary school ages, 4-11. Some independent schools go up to age 13 but ours didn't. We did PE with nothing on right through to when we left. It seems incredible that it was less than 30 years ago that this happened and was considered to be quite ok! I guess we were lucky that it was girls-only!

Hi Amy,

What age were you when you had to do PE naked? You mentioned removing vest and pants, so was it a Primary School(up to age 11, or do the age ranges differ in private schools?

Claire,
It does sound odd being allowed a skirt but no top. My secondary School uniform for indoor PE was gym knickers (without a skirt) and a white aertex shirt. Outdoors we were allowed to wear a skirt or culottes over our gym knickers.

It seems in the past we all had it bad but a lot of girls had it even worse than the boys. I went to a fairly small independent girls only junior school in North Yorkshire in the 80s. We had an old gym that was in pretty poor condition but we still used it several times a week. We all walked from our classroom over to the corner of the school where the gym stood. The changing rooms were locked out of use because they were old and leaking, so we all went straight into the gym itself. Once we were in there we were all expected to undress in silence, in a strict order. First our shoes, them our cardigans, our dresses, blouses, our shoes and socks, our vests and finally our pants. We were then ready to start our lessons. When we look back now it's amazing that we had to do PE wearing absolutely nothing at all!

Hi Claire

How odd that your school wouldn't let you wear a top, even a bra, but insisted on skirts - I assume with gym knickers beneath?

Don, yes it was mixed. The girls knew we swam naked and di PE shirtless but these classes were single sex. Double standards as usual! Boys got CP but girls got detention...

When I attended a naturist swim club,all facilities were mixed gender and we were not allowed to wear swimming trunks.

Archie, was it a mixed school and did you ever have females present during your nude swims?

Willy, it was an independent day school - very traditional

Gerald, was it uncomfortable to wear these slips? Were they sold widely at the time or resort tend to schools? Were they common to wear at the time?

Hi Louise,

We wore a PE skirt, always black, but footwear depended on what we were doing. Outside it was always black plimsoles unless it was athletics then bare feet were allowed. Gym sessions varied between bare feet or white plimsoles for gym including indoor netball and the dreaded fitness sessions which were always during a double lesson.

Hi Claire

What else did you wear for PE? Did you have kit in the bottom half or just knickers? What about footwear?

Hi Andrea,

I was left with little choice, either wear a vest and get laughed at, or go topless. I was relieved when I finally started to show and was able to wear a bra. The PE teachers said they preferred minimal kit and were quite brutal about it too. As far as they were concerned skins ruled.

Claire

That seems very harsh. I imagine you were relieved when you finally able to wear a sports bra?