General Chat

I'm thinking about a new writing project and have a request for info. Part is set in mid-late 1950s and was wondering if anyone could give me ideas about school sports clothes and shoes during that time (for girls) and also what the 'games mistress/master' might have worn?

I went to an all girls Grammar school in the south of England.
There was an expectation that we would behave like young ladies.
Our games uniform for outdoor sports was a pale blue cotton aertex type top with short sleeves and a collar and 2 buttons, - what we might call a polo shirt today.
Our lower half was covered by mid grey divided skirt shorts, not too clinging so that it didn't show up curves too much. It was longish, but a few inches above the knee.

We wore the same, summer and winter for athletics, tennis, hockey and lacrosse.
Shoes were plimsolls or hockey boots.

Indoors we were barefoot and in grey interlock knickers instead of the shorts for gym work.

PE teacher wore similar shorts and a short sleeve top in summer and long sleeves in winter. Colours were her own choice.

After the lessons, we had compulsory communal showers and the games mistress took a register to make sure we did :-|

I went to what I call a little ‘Dame’ school. We didn’t PE so didn’t have any PE kit.

Things changed when I went to ‘big school’ in the early sixties.

I also went to Grammar school in England and we wore similar shorts and shoes as Gwyn, but we weren't barefoot for gym. Our shirts were rayon, square-necked with two buttons on one shoulder. For hockey we also had shin pads, but no other protective clothing at all.

In winter we played hockey and netball and in summer tennis and rounders.

I too went to an all girls grammar school but we didn't even have shorts. We had to do gym and games in our navy blue knickers. We must have had a shirt but for some reason I can't remember it. I don't think it was an aertex one, probably a white T-shirt.. It was black plimsolls for most things and hockey boots. Our sports mistress wore an aertex shirt with shorts that looked like a short skirt with box pleats.

I went to a mixed High school 1951-1956.

PE kit indoor in the gym and outdoor on the field was navy blue shorts (and we of course wore navy knickers all the time), aertex type material shirts with collars and a couple of buttons in our house colours, mine was pale blue. On our feet white socks and black Plimsolls (as we called them in Hampshire. (daps in the area I am in now). We rarely played tennis but did play hockey and the uniform was the same with hockey boots instead of plimsolls. Our two PE mistresses (could never quite make them out) both wore navy shorts or short pleated skirts and white colared aertex type shirts.and black plimsolls.

At my Girls Grammar School in the 60's we wore much the same. For outdoor games, hockey in the winter with navy culotte shorts and pale blue aertex blouse and hockey boots with long grey socks. For indoor we had a red gym romper, a garment difficult to imagine and worse to wear. And to add insult to injury we had to embroider our first name across the chest....
White plimsolls and socks.

If anyone wants to see said garment I can direct you to a photo on facebook.

Yep me too with the All Girls Grammar

We wore white aertex blouses, with black short wrap around skirts, black plimsolls. Netball, and hockey (which usually meant the mean girls bashing everyone's ankles)

But mainly it was running around the playing fields. We had no outside facilities in central London, but travelled on the coach on Friday afternoons.

Showers were optional, and most of us shy violets hid behind our towels. :-D

We had a new girl start in the second year, who was Scandinavian, and was quite happy to wander around the changing room stark naked. :-0

Our Games Teacher was a very striking Anglo/Italian lady, with her hair in a tight bun at the nape of her neck. She wore what must have been a tracksuit in nylon, and tennis shoes.

In the 60’s we had very heavy brown pleated shorts. They were so memorable that I have no idea what shirt we had.

There were a couple of showers but they were never used except for storage. Luckily I could walk home and not travel by public transport :-S

I was at an All Girls Grammar School in the early 60s too. :-)

It must have cost my parents a small fortune to kit me out and they were by no means rich :-0

The top was a light blue airtex short sleeved shirt with my first name embroidered on it, like grannyfanny :-)

Navy blue knickers and black plimsolls for the gym :-0. Navy blue knickers and a mid blue wrap around skirt with white plimsolls and short white socks for netball :-0 In the winter it was hockey or lacrosse so the light blue airtex shirt and dark blue shorts
with hockey boots and long white socks (like the old fashioned football socks).
I hated hockey & lacrosse such dangerous sports especially when nobody could hit the rock hard balls where they were meant to go:-0

We also had swimming in the summer, so a black swimsuit. It was an outdoor unheated swimming pool which was flipping freezing even on the warmest of days :-0

PE teacher wore a white airtex top and dark blue wrap around skirt in the summer and a track suit in the winter.....they were so enthusiastic too!

I also remember with the school uniform we had to have indoor and outdoor shoes, brown for indoors and black for outdoors :-0 :-0

Very interesting reading, as I had thought, the kits didn't seem to change that much as I was still wearing similar in the 1970s (another girl's grammar). We had white airtex shirt and navy divided skirt for everything except gym, which was the same shirt and ghastly black sateen 'gym knickers'. It was all quite pricey stuff but the materials were always excellent quality. I was lucky enough to get some pre-loved hockey boots from a neighbour's daughter. We played hockey and netball in winter, rounders, tennis and athletics in summer. I hated (and was useless at) them all apart from tennis.

I smiled at AnnG's post as we moved from Portsmouth to Gloucester when I was about 10 and I was puzzled by classmates reminding me not to forget my 'daps' - I'd always called them plimsolls.

Our games mistresses always had tracksuits - they have been around for decades but think they only became popular 70's onwards?

Oh! Indoor and outdoor shoes. Anyone would think there were carpets in the place :-|

I am so relieved to say we never had gym knickers, at either school. Phew!

I went to an all girls grammar too in the late 50s and early 60s. we wore white, square necked aertex shirts with bottle green culotte shorts in winter for hockey with hockey boots and with plimsoles for netball with our gym knickers. In summer we did athletics in spiked running shoes for hurdles if you were good, otherwise plimsoles and those for Netball and Tennis as well. For gym indoors we were barefoot and wore black, shiny knickers with a stripe of our house colour sewn top to bottom each side. Those were also worn for netball.. For swimming we wore those awful black wool swimsuits that the shoulders stretched down to embarrassing levels as you climbed out of the pool with your costume full of water below the waist. We could wear what rubber swim hats we liked but had to wear one and I had one with flowers moulded in the rubber that was hard to stretch on with the strong rubber band around the edge. Yes we wore outdoor shoes and indoor shoes too!

I went to several different schools in various parts of the UK and our footwear was known as plimsolls, gym shoes, sand shoes, daps, tackies and probably other things as well. I remember the soles were very thin and wearing them for any length of time made your feet ache. By comparison, modern trainers are a huge improvement. :-)

I can't remember doing PE at any of the 6 primary schools I went to.
We probably did, but the trauma of it has made me forget!
I'd also never have had the 'correct' PE kit, like I never had the 'correct' uniform, but had to wear the uniform from the previous school until I'd outgrown it.

I went to a mixed Grammar School, 1967- 1972.
We wore aertex shirts for games and PE, plimsolls for PE, Netball, tennis, javelin etc, and for 'shorts', we had to wear bottle green knickers :-S
For hockey, we wore hockey boots, and grey woollen (unwashable|) culottes.

Fortunately, by year 2, I'd managed to get out of all PE/Games lessons, and RE.
By year 3, I'd got out of Sewing and cookery classes too :-D

All thanks to an RE teacher who knew nothing of any other religion apart from 'his' Christianity.