Hesketh Fletcher Gym Team

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1132 Comments

Hesketh Fletcher Gym Team
Hesketh Fletcher Gym Team
Year: 1935
Views: 342,633
Item #: 1741
Hesketh Fletcher Gym Team of Atherton, Greater Manchester.
Source: G. Smith.

Comment by: John on 19th April 2018 at 00:43

Sam,
Please accept my apologies for the last published comments, something went wrong and I thought that I’d posted it from myself ‘John’. I intended to address my comments to you, I clearly did not check carefully enough before I clicked on ‘submit’.

Comment by: Sam on 18th April 2018 at 00:31

I agree with you that it was unfair if all boys were not treated the same. I still believe that your PE teacher was right and that lads do not need to wear tops for PE. My brother and I were used to wearing only shorts for PE at Primary School so by the time we went to Secondary School we were quite happy going bare chested for PE. There were some lads who’d been to different Primary Schools that had allowed them to wear tops for PE and they complained about being made to strip to the waist. After the first few PE lessons they were no longer bothered about not wearing tops.

Girls are not the same as boys, for swimming lessons at co-ed schools girls are expected to wear a full swimming costume and boys will normally be shirtless unless they are swimming outdoors and require sun protection that a specialist fabric swim top may provide.

So I don’t think that ‘gender discrimination’ should prevent a shorts only policy for boys indoor PE. If a national policy of shorts only for boys indoor PE kit was adopted it would be fair to all boys and would help them to gain confidence and worry less about their body image.

Comment by: Sam on 17th April 2018 at 22:58

John, as a 12 year-old boy I certainly didn't think he was right! Like many of my classmates I was uneasy at having to do PE with no top. And it seemed unfair that boys with different PE teachers weren't made to do the same. For instance, my brother - who was in a different year - used to tease me if he'd seen my class out running in just our shorts and trainers!
And with hindsight? Yes, I think my teacher's policy did me good because ultimately it played a part in making me into a physically fitter and more confident young man. But I'm sure schools wouldn't be able to introduce that kind of rule now on the grounds of gender discrimination.

Comment by: John on 17th April 2018 at 09:07

Sam, do you think that your teacher was right making all lads strip to the waist for PE. Do you think that it should have been school policy?. I think it was so beneficial for myself and other lads that it should have been a national policy.

Comment by: Sam on 16th April 2018 at 10:53

Hi Claire, I had a similar experience to your brother at school (about 25 years ago). Although shirtless PE kit for boys wasn't school policy, the teacher who took my class for PE made us all do it stripped to our shorts, no exceptions. It was quite a shock at first and there were one or two protests but it made no difference. In his view there was no need for boys to wear shirts for exercise and that was that. In some ways it meant we worked harder in PE as you wanted to have a better body, or more muscles than your mates.

Comment by: Claire on 13th April 2018 at 17:09

Hi John, it's sad the way things have become. Something so normal is frowned upon. Doing sports stripped off was so common. I feel it also helped boys identify with themselves too without mixing their heads up.

Comment by: Tony on 3rd April 2018 at 12:32

Re the episode of Vera, I did not see it. However, I do not suppose that in this day and age TV cannot show boys bare-chested. It they did I suppose for politically correct reasons their faces would be pixillated

Comment by: John on 3rd April 2018 at 09:09

Claire, you are absolutely right. When I was at school in 1970s/80s it was common practice for boys to be stripped to the waist for PE. Some teachers that I know said that in the late 1980s due to campaigns from some parent groups; schools started to allow boys to wear vests or t shirts for PE.

Comment by: Claire on 2nd April 2018 at 21:26

Hi Frank, my brother had a hard time with a PE teacher who insisted on all boys exercise stripped to the waist throughout his time at school for everything physical and in all weathers even laps of the field in the pouring rain. Just recently an episode of "Vera" showed a group of boys doing a PE run on the beach in vests, being topless would been more realistic.

Comment by: Frank Chroston on 1st April 2018 at 21:53

Thanks Clare for picking up on the comment I made about WW2.I have a sullen regret that we didn't have a sterner regime at my secondary school and have a stripped to the waist policy for P.E. Cross Country also.

Comment by: Claire on 31st March 2018 at 23:37

Frank, good point about WW2. I'm sure those young men would have been stripped to the waist for their military PT. It's my view lads joining any of the Services should strip for PT. It makes it easier for them to toughen up.

Comment by: Frank Chroston on 24th March 2018 at 19:13

I like the contributions on this site because the views are more varied.It is a sobering thought that most of these fine gymnasts would be conscripted five years later!WW2 etc. I was interested particularly in the field of school medicals.Mine came up in 1974 when I was forteen.It was after the Easter holidays.Like the customs at the airport I was chosen at random from the queue to strip down to bare in a room by the library and be examined by a physician,I had the hernia test and the rubber gloves finger inserted into my anal passage causing me to yell with the discomfort,like an earlier respondent mentioned I was aroused by the the experience.I years later read that it was a natural response to artificial stimulation! I had been terrified that I was homosexual with the 'being felt' experience!

Comment by: JonAt1 on 10th March 2018 at 22:53

During our indoor PE lessons we were made to sweat. Being made to strip to the waist made it easy to see who was putting the effort in. If you weren't sweating at the end then remedial session outdoors and laps of the field awaited.

Comment by: Frank Chroston on 30th December 2017 at 06:36

Roy I endorse what stated earlier,adolescents release a lot of adrenalin and it is excreted through the skin.Not showering after PE or Games means the oil can block pores causing spots to form particularly on the back of a student.Most of us looked forward to a shower after Gym exercise.We got so used to this compulsory regime before we returned to the classroom situation.

Comment by: Roy on 10th December 2017 at 08:34

As many have said it is completely unhygienic to go straight from a PE lesson to a class without showering first.

Comment by: Kirsty on 19th November 2017 at 00:33

hi Ross

Yes it was a surprise! We all had full indoor PE kit with us, t-shirts, gym pants and plimsolls. So to find out only at that first lesson that we'd be doing it in our knickers and no tops was a shock! Outdoors we had PE kit, though if we forgot it we'd have to run laps of the field in our pants!

Comment by: JON on 17th November 2017 at 06:45

I seem to have endured more school medicals than many.as I had one on starting school another on moving to junior school and another on leaving that school.
In secondary school I had one when receiving the BCG jab another after finishing my O Level year and the last one after finishing my A levels.
I can only really remember the last ones as we lined up in groups of three outside the MI room stripped to the waist and on entering the room we stripped naked and went forward for the examination which involved the usual including the genitals. This gave me an erection which lasted while I was trying to get dressed!
As I had to pass the lads waiting their turn I noticed that by then they had erections as well!!

Comment by: Ross on 7th November 2017 at 06:05

Hello Kirsty,

Interesting comments there. It must have been a real surprise for you. What were you expecting to wear for PE? In the other two lessons a week were these outside? Do you have to do these in knickers only?

Comment by: Andrea on 31st October 2017 at 15:31

Hi Kirsty,

I seem to recollect a couple other women saying something similar about 18 months ago. I imagine it must have been quite a shock and quite embarrassing, especially for those girls who had started to develop?
I was still flat chested at the start of what would now be year 7, but started to wear a bra at the start of year 8.

Did your PE teacher say why this was the rule?
Our indoor PE kit was navy blue gym knickers and a white polo shirt. Far from making anyone go topless, our PE teacher told several girls that they should start to wear a bra under their polo shirt.

Comment by: Kirsty on 30th October 2017 at 15:39

There are mostly men commenting on this, but I see a few women too. I went to a girls school from age 11 onwards and PE there was pretty strict. In UII and LIV (which I think are now called years seven and eight, age 11-13) we did PE every day, and that meant gymnastics indoors, which we did three times a week. When we were in the gym, we didn't wear PE kit, which was a shock when we first started. Our gym mistress was very clear that first lesson, when she came into the changing room and told us piece by piece to undress. Eventually we were all left standing in just our pants, at which point she ordered us to line up in alphabetical order. I was wondering what would happen next then she told us to file into the gym! Only when we were there did she make explicit that we would do all our lessons dressed this way.

Comment by: ROY on 25th September 2017 at 08:32

In the 1960's we always had to shower after PE and thought nothing of being naked in the communal showers

Comment by: Rob on 8th September 2017 at 13:03

Sterling, agree absolutely, and why should showers be optional after indoor PE? I can't believe the amount of kit required on that list! We wore just a pair of shorts with nothing on underneath, no shirt, and plimsolls without socks.Many had to do it in bare feet. We wore this kit in the gym and outside,including cross country runs. In the gym we were worked hard and made to sweat profusely so that we needed and looked forward to washing ourselves thoroughly in the open showers together afterwards.

Comment by: Sterling on 5th September 2017 at 18:26

Jonas, Why Is It 'terrible' to expect Students to maintain an acceptable level of Personal Hygiene?

Is it acceptable to subject Teachers to the Smell of 30+ Post Workout Sweaty Teenagers in a confined space?

I think Not!

Comment by: Mr Wallace on 30th August 2017 at 10:11

Not a surprise. When I was at school those boys who did not want to shower tended to miss a lot of PE with conditions/illnesses/injuries and have a note from their parents, or do the towel dance when changing.

What happens/happened for you in your school?

Comment by: Jonas on 26th May 2017 at 15:05

I think it is terrible that showers are still compulsory for outdoor lessons in some schools.

P.E. Equipment

Plain black shorts with school crest (2 pairs are advised, but this is optional).
Black sweatshirt with school crest.
Black polo shirt with school crest.
A black long sleeved /or legging-style base layer may be worn under the regulation kit during the colder months (this period is at the discretion of the teachers)
White ankle sports socks.
Black football socks for hockey and cross-country.
Towel for shower taken after every outdoor lesson, optional for indoor lesson.
Trainers.
Football boots
http://www.blue-coat.oldham.sch.uk/uniform-regulations/

Comment by: Jack on 5th April 2017 at 15:30

Having read about the experiences of people going through medical exams notwithstanding any embarrassment, I think nothing compares with the fear & trepidation when the school dentist came to carry out examinations. The prodding of teeth with a hook and then the inevitable letter coming to parents summoning you to the school dentist which was a really painful experience. No care or compassion. Especially if there was an extraction

Comment by: Roy on 27th March 2017 at 07:06

Andrea - although my Mum came with me she didn't actually come into the actual medical itself

Comment by: Andrea on 26th March 2017 at 15:09

Roy,

Did you have a parent present when you had your medical at the end of Primary School?

When I had one in the first year at Secondary, mum wasn't present, just the doctor and our School Nurse, but one of my friends in a different school had here mum present.

Comment by: Roy on 25th March 2017 at 06:53

The only times I had a medical exam were on starting primary school on leaving that school at eleven and at secondary school when having the dreaded BCG jab.
At all times we had to strip to the waist for the exam even for the BCG.

Comment by: Keith on 27th July 2016 at 08:33

Rob, It was only in my teens and early 20's I had a fear, as I got older I didn't have any medical exams at all.

Then I had this medical insurance plan when I was 60 and I get them through that, no bother at all now.