Clitheroe Royal Grammar School

Declan,what was the reason that you were given for wearing shorts up to thirteen?

As far as I remember I went from shorts to longs when I was about thirteen.

Declan,I think that you were lucky that shorts were unobtainable for your size.Usually,the main criteria for boys wearing shorts was the boys age or his height.I wasn't particularly tall,so at thirteen my parents considered that it was quite suitable to keep me in shorts for as long as they desired.

James
My family relented and I wore "longs" when they had to concede that they could not longer purchase grey shorts in my size.

Declan,I didn't wear shorts on a voluntary basis,they were imposed on me by my parents and as you say we didn't"look grown up".
I did feel ridiculous wear tight fitting shorts like yourself especially when most of my friends were wearing long trousers.

James. I did not like wearing grey short trousers at secondary school was because most of my friends were in longs and I felt that I was not as "grown up " as them . Furthermore grey shorts that fitted comfortably were not really available as I got older and show the ones I did wear were tight and restrictive.

John,

Back then I never used to feel cold, the school was mostly unheated, there were radiators and open fires but they didn't do much to raise the temperature. At best a radiator might have the chill off it but they were never warm and there weren't many of them either. In our common room there was an open fire but it was small in a big room.

Water was at best luke warm and I don't remember ever having anything but a cold shower but you get used to it, I still shower in cold water today, it's so much more refreshing and it doesn't steam up the bathroom! When I used to go to the gym or play rugby, I always laughed in the showers at guys next to me because at times of course you get splashed and I always had freezing cold water while they had hot, oh, the complaints about being splashed with cold water!

Declan,what did you dislike most about wearing short trousers?04itq

We had swimming lessons once a week all year round indoors at the municipal swimming pool. Reserved for our school. We did not swim nude but often in the winter the water was cold. Any complaints about that got the reply swim faster!!!

Ritchie,
That regime was probably good for the immune system. I didn’t do nude cold water swimming at school but shorts and pumps were all that we ever ran in during winter for X country and it never bothered me.

I remember my mum being worried about me being ill in winter when I went to boarding school in 1960. The windows in the dormitory were always open. Six mornings a week we had to run at 06.30 in shorts and plimsolls followed by two lengths of the outdoor pool - naked. Shorts back on and inside for a cold shower and then the day could begin.

I only ever seemed to catch colds and the like when I was home for the holidays.

James I think the main reason for the delay in me wearing long trousers was because of my stature. although I was not particularly short compared with the other boys , I also think that to some degree it was cost. Shorts being cheaper to buy and if I fell over, I would not rip my trousers.

Chris G
It was a liberating feeling not being made to go to school wearing a vest under my school shirt and so much more comfortable doing PE shirtless. My dad was pleased when topless PE was introduced at my school but my mum worried that I’d get a bad chest in winter. Mum found that I became healthier from then onwards and was glad that she had less washing to do for my brother and I.

Declan - Like you, I was expectd to wear a vest/singlet for far longer than I felt necessary or appropriate. By the age of 10 or so, going without a vest in the summer months was aceptable to Mum, but the minute the weather turned colder, I awas expected to wesr one again. Full liberation came when I was about 13, when topless PE was introduced at school, the unintended consequence of this being that within a short space of time I, along with most of my classmates, had stopped wearing vests altogther. Although Dad thought the topless PE bit was a good idea, Mum wasn't quite so sure, although she did see the benefit of not having to buy me vests any more.

"Why was it a long time coming" for you to be promoted to wearing long trousers?Did you receive many adverse comments from your contemporaries for wearing shorts? I had to them at 13 so I know what you went through.

I have read the pro and cons of young ladies being prepared to wear bras, especially as a sign of growing up. As I have written previously, my idea of growing up was to be bale to wear long trousers(Along time coming) In addition I wanted to be like a lot of the lads and be able to stop wearing a singlet under my shirt. (Fat chance!!!)

Had to laugh, Jane

The delights of a younger brother!

Graham - I guess the very fact she spoke to you about finding her bras uncomfortable was an indication that your sister wasn't embarrassed about needing one and that she trusted you not to tease her about it.

Like your sister I wasn't among the first of my classmates to develop, but for some reason it took me a while to accept that I needed to start wearing a bra.

Andrea - By the tiem my sister got to the bra-wearing stage, about half of the girls in her class at school were already wearing them, so there was no embarrassment when changing for PE and games - she just "joined the club". It was the unfamiliarity of having something relatively tight around her upper half that took a bit of getting used to after so many years of liberation in loose-fitting shirts, jumpers and dresses.

Graham - In the last couple of years at primary school I tended to wear vests in the winter but not in summer. Once my breasts began to 'bud' part way through my first year at secondary school, I tended to wear a vest more than previously, particularly under T shirts, so they weren't so noticeable.
Like your sister, I found bras to be uncomfortable when I first tried one on - like an iron band round my chest, so put off wearing one for as long as possible.
When I did start wearing a bra I didn't usually wear a vest with it.
Of course back then 'training bras were scaled down versions of what our mums wore, rather than the light crop tops or cami-vests that young girls typically wear nowadays.

Do you think your sister found wearing her first bras embarrassing, or just uncomfortable?

Andrea - Were you still regularly wearing vests when you got your first bras, and if so, did you carry on wearing them with your bras or did you give them up completely at that point. Neither my younger sister nor I were wearing vests by the time we started school, and I remember her grumbling about feeling restricted, and complaining that "it's alright for boys, they don't have to wear these silly things", early in her bra-wearing days,

When mum gave me my first bras she said something like "I thought you might want to wear one soon". Thankfully she didn't insist and in fact it was another 4 months or so before I did start to wear one.
Like you I was very self-conscious the first time I went into the PE changing room wearing a bra. In actual fact, as it was just after the summer holidays and several other girls were also wearing them for the first time, so I needn't have worried really!
There were still some girls who didn't need them plus a few who were told by our PE teacher that they should be wearing one!

I guess you're right, there are some things better left unsaid on a public forum like this!

Andrea

I started to show some signs of development and my mother said I was ready for a bra. Of course some of the girls at school started to wear a bra just to be "grown-up," but in my case there was a need! I just felt very conscious about it when in the changing-room with the other girls, and when at home, l didn’t need boys questioning me on how it felt etc.

My younger brother was to put it short a right scamp when it came to teasing his older sister. So yes, he did things like that. Not sure writing about the things he got up to are suitable for this page though!

Declan,I too wore grey shorts at school up to thirteen and older.This was was also imposed by my parents who liked to see me in shorts.
They were difficult to obtain for the older boy,so they were very tight and short,just like my parents liked to see me wearing them.

James I wore the normal grey shorts at secondary school up until about the age of 13 whereas the majority of the others wore long trousers. This was not by my choice but imposed on me by dad. The problem was obtaining grey shorts for the older boy and although I was quite small the shorts were not really made for boys my age and were very tight. Eventually dad relented and I wore longs. Then I felt more grown up. Too much information I know but as much S I liked the string briefs they were very uncomfortable under tight shorts

Jane,
I felt surprised and embarrassed when mum bought me my first bras as an unexpected birthday present. Although my chest had started to show some signs of development, I didn't think it was particularly noticeable under my clothes and it didn't feel uncomfortable at that point.
I had been quite happy a flat chested tomboy, so I suppose I was reluctant to admit that my body was starting change and of course starting to wear a bra would have been an obvious sign of that.
I managed to get away without wearing a one until the end of the summer holidays, wearing baggy T shirts and a vest (or sometimes even my swimsuit top) to help hide my growing boobs, but somehow I didn't feel quite as much at ease with the local boys as I had in previous summers. In part this was probably because we were no longer at the same schools, but some was because I was worried that they would notice my chest and make comments, as I had seen happen to other girls.
By the time I went back to school that autumn, the outline of my breasts were visible under my PE shirt and their movement was noticeable, and a bit painful when I was running, so I had to admit that I needed to wear a bra for PE.
As you say that you were embarrassed about wearing a bra, what was it that prompted to to start wearing one?

Your saying that you though some of your brother's friends may have wanted to try on your bra as a joke reminded me that I once caught my sister (two years younger than me) trying on one of mine. She was still completely flat-chested at that point but, unlike me, she couldn't wait for her boobs to grow!
Do you think that your brother ever did try on one of your bras?

Andrea
I remember my brother, he is 2 years younger than me, started to wear a jockstrap when he entered the senior school at 13. Now he was all of a sudden a man! Or so he thought so! You know all cocksure and that!

Yes, at the beginning they teased me. I think one or two of them had the idea if wanting to try my bra on for laughs. You know boys! Anyway they soon found other distractions but l do remember the embarrassment when l started wearing a bra fir the first time.

What about you? Were you teased?

Jane
My ex said he started to wear jockstraps at secondary school which would have been in the early 1970s too.

Did your brother or his mates ever tease you about wearing a bra? I was at an all-girls secondary school by the time I needed one, but a few girls who started wearing them at Primary school got some 'comments' etc from some of the cheekier boys.

Andrea
my brother had a few jockstraps when he was a schoolboy in early 70s it was. I think they're unfashionable nowadays.

Yes me too, I was very annoyed with my mum hanging out my bras out in the open especially with my brother and his mates about!

Jane
I don't have any brothers and my dad didn't play any sports, so I never saw or even heard of jockstraps when I was a teenager. The first time I came across one was when I was first married and my husband's (now my Ex) turned up in the washing basket.

Talking of washing lines, I remember being annoyed with mum the first time she hung one of my bras on the line when my dad was at home!