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We had plain black blazers. Mum would buy them from one of the big department stores - or it may have been the Co op - not BHS where we normally bought schoolclothes.Then we would get two badges from the school secretary with the school crest on it - one large for the blazer pocket and one much smaller for the cap. Mum would then sew these on. Sometimes they would come off in or get damaged and you could get a new set from the school. When I went to secondary school the school badge was already on the blazer.
Most state primary schools didn't have blazers, even the ones requiring uniforms. But ours was a C of. E school and they did often require blazers (as did the catholic schools like my mate Michaels). The funny thing is that we hardly wore our blazers inside the school at all - just going to and coming from it and on school trips and such. We had pegs in the classroom to hang up our blazers. They were always in the classroom and not the cloakroom. They normally stayed there all day until going home time. When I started we had caps too - yet they'd be left down on the peg in the cloakroom. I know that my Mum used to be annoyed at that as it was the most expensive item of school uniform - and she would go absolutely mad if we damaged our blazers in any way as she wanted them to last and be handed down. I know that if I went playing after school I would always take my blazer off! She had to buy three of them - and then we moved so they were all useless as my little broth! er went to a different school. There weren't these "uniform exchanges" in those days - although parents would swap clothes informally. And then there were always jumble sales which is a whole different topic.
My Church of England primary school did have blazers for both boys and girls and so did my friend Michael's which was Roman Catholic. We had plain black blazers. Mum would buy them from one of the big department stores - or it may have been the Co op - not BHS where we normally bought schoolclothes.
We had caps when I started, but we didn't have to wear them after I was 8 or 9 years old (1967).
Our blazer badges were bought seperately from the blazer itself. We bought the badges at the school office and there were smaller versions for the caps (and the girl's berets). We would get two badges from the school secretary with the school crest on it. One large for the blazer pocket and one much smaller for the cap. Mum would then sew these on. Sometimes they would come off in or get damaged and you could get a new set from the school.
Mum sewed them on to a standard black blazer and cap. Yes on the left hand breast pocket on the blazer and in the middle of the cap. Sometimes they came loose and Mum would have to sew them back on. When we went on school trips at primary school we always wore our blazers. If we went to a museum or such where there might be many other schools there would often be another school with the same school colours - ours being green and yellow striped ties and socks with two green hoops. In that case the blazer badge was the only way anyone could tell which school we were from (bad news if we got up to mischief and the museum attendant tracked us down later).
When I went to secondary school the school badge was already on the blazer.
Most state primary schools didn't have blazers, even the ones requiring uniforms. But ours was a C of. E school and they did often require blazers (as did the catholic schools like my mate Michaels). Some other state primary schools had them too but not all. Michael's school still had matching caps which were compulsory (and berets for the girls).
The funny thing is that we hardly wore our blazers inside the school at all.
We had to wear our blazers to and from school and on school trips and also in the school hall when there was a carol concert or prize day but otherwise we could take them off and hang them up on our hooks in the classroom. (We had hooks in the cloakroom downstairs. This was for the whole school. But we never left our blazers there just our outer coats in the winter.) They normally stayed there all day until going home time. When I started we had caps too - yet they'd be left down on the peg in the cloakroom. I know that my Mum used to be annoyed at that. In fact we always had to take them off I remember to stop getting ink or chalk or paint (if we were doing art) on them. No boys were ever alowed to wear them during lunch as that could be messy! It was on the classroom pegs where we would hang our blazers and satchells. At my primary school the classrooms were always warm even on the coldest Winter's day as they had stoves centrally heated from a boiler in the basement. I could tell you more about that later if you want as ours was an old Victorian school building whereas some schools were newly built and were never as warm. The point is that we always took off our blazers in the classroom after morning assembly and hung them on the pegs and most took off their jumpers too. We would then put them back on to go out to play (the jumpers anyway). As I say blazers were expensive and so most Mum's would go mad if we played in them). If it was cold we would also queue go into the cloakroom to put on our outer coats for play. Wearing our outer coats was decided by the teachers and we hated it as it took up our playtime and we felt warm enough without topcoats once we got running about and the coats just got in the way. Because Mum made us wear Gran's thick Winter underwear I never felt that cold in Winter. Summer was different because for some reason I always felt cold when wearing a white shirt. For that reason I liked to wear my jumper over a white shirt on the occaisions that we had had to wear one or Mum insisted (or didn't have a grey one clean). I have told you the trouble that got me into once when I wanted to wear it on a school trip and a teacher wouldn't let me. So I ended up being left behind. If it was chilly, some boys wore their blazers when we went out for morning or afternoon break, but I never did. I always wanted to run around and play and not worry about getting my blazer dirty. If it was raining we were not allowed out anyway. We'd put our blazers on when we went down for afternoon assembly (or "prayers" as we called it) because we went straight home after that.
I know that if I went playing after school I would always take my blazer off.
After school I always took my blazer off if it was Summer and rolled it up and fixed it onto the top of my satchel. It sometimes did as a goalpost but I'd never dare to actually play in it. We were meant to go home and change straight after school but I didn't always and used to get home and change just before Mum got in from work.
Our blazer was the most expensive item of school uniform. My Mum was always particular about our blazers. She would go absolutely mad if we damaged our blazers in any way as she wanted them to last and be handed down. She had to buy three of them - and then we moved so they were all useless as my little brother went to a different school. My schoolclothes were sometimes a bit of a mess
but Mum never really went too mad unless something was torn but she would have if the blazer had been damaged so I was always careful about that.
There weren't these "uniform exchanges" in those days - although parents would swap clothes informally. And then there were always jumble sales which is a whole different topic.
I did start writing to you seperately about our back to school routine and will finish that and send it on but I can tell you about the blazers here and maybe why they gradually died out for younger children. As well as being expensive to buy they were also one of the few items that I remembered had to be dry cleaned rather than go into the washing mashine or be hand washed.
My Mum always sent us back to school after the holidays as smart as possible. This involved going through all of our schoolclothes and seeing what we might need new and also getting everything clean and prepared for the new term. The major time for this of course was the start of a new school year but Mum also did it after Christmas and Easter and sometimes even half terms.When it came to blazers she always had them dry cleaned and I remember they came back looking as good
as new - and especially the badge had regained all of it's brightness.
When I got older taking our blazers to the dry cleaners was my job. My brothers normally needed something new and they had to go clothes shopping with Mum but I only had to drop off the blazers in the dry cleaners and then go to the old lady's shop that I told you about to buy buttons (a few shirts normally needed some repair), two yards of garter elastic (Mum always sewed us new garters for the new term) and to order or pick up labels with our names on - new clothes needed new labels. Mum sometimes remembered to order new labels early enough so they were there waiting to be picked up on the Saturday before we went back - but sometimes she forgot and then I would order them and it was a gamble whether they'd be done ready for the new term and to sew on to the new clothes we'd bought - especially socks which we always had new pairs of.
The dry cleaners (Sketchleys) was on the high street local to us and not in the main shopping centre where the big stores like BHS were and where my Mum bought most of our clothes. I had been there quite a few times as some of Mum's clothes needed dry cleaning and I would drop them off for her and pick them up but as I say most of our schoolclothes did not need dry cleaning. You
handed in the clothes and then got a numbered ticket like a raffle ticket for each item and then when you went back you handed in the ticket and paid. There was a fixed payment for each item all printed out on a card and the woman would tick a box next to what you had left in so you knew what you had to pay when you went back.
I remember we had a pair of more old-fashioned shorts (doubtless bought
by Gran) that had "Dry Clean Only" on the label and once or twice Mum did send them in but in the end she decided that it was not worth the cost as boy's shorts did not come much cheaper than men's long trousers to clean and it was almost as cheap to buy a new pair of the cheaper BHS washable shorts than to keep having these ones cleaned.Both me and my brother were relieved about this as we did not like those shorts and my Mum was too as it saved her having to seperate us when we were arguing over which of us was to wear them. We occaisionally wore the shorts for "best" and then Mum would sponge them down and put them away but we never had to wear them to school.
After my elder brother moved on to secondary school he looked after his own uniform more and Mum gave him the money to buy what he needed so it was just me and my little brother who needed sorting out by Mum. My elder brother's primary school clothes all came down to me and so I had two blazers but my old one was pretty worn so I had to wear his for my last term
which was in better condition but not so comfortable!When it came to my last term after Easter I had more or less made my peace with Mum over schoolclothes as my elder brother had his own secondary school clothes and Mum tried to have ready the clothes that I liked as far as possible.
Sketchly did an "express" dry cleaning service and it normally worked that if you left the blazers in on the Saturday they would be back in time for when school started (which was normally the following Wednesday so the that the first "week" back at school was a short one I suppose). The Christmas before the dry cleaners had not kept their "48 hour gauruntee" I recall and Mum was pretty annoyed as I had to go back to school in my old blazer (which hadn't been cleaned new) and my little brother didn't have his at all for the first day. My Mum went with me the next day after school and they had arrived but she refused to pay the full price and got a
50 percent discount. Only paying for one blazer in effect instead of two. Sometimes my Mum embarrassed me when she argued in shops but this time I knew that she was right and I was quite proud of her.
She remembered that though and the following Easter she told me to take the blazers in on the Friday before we went back. Our best clothes were kept in her wardrobe and we were not allowed in there so she put them out for me.At the end of the previous term all of our schoolclothes were put away and it was good to forget about school for a while. Although I was quite enjoying it then but I needed a break as we were working towards the eleven-plus.
Anyway when I got to Sketchley's they were doing an Easter Offer - "Three items cleaned for the price of two". I knew that my Mum would be pleased with me if I got my spare blazer cleaned for nothing and I went home to get it. At this point my Mum was back at work but I was allowed a doorkey ever since I was eleven. When I got all of the way home with the two blazers though my arm was aching (they
were quite heavy and Mum had them wrapped up in the plastic covers and on hangers saved from the last dry cleaning). I didn't want to have to carry three of them all of the way back and anyway she was quite strict about us going into her wardrobe.
I wanted to save her money though and her to be pleased with me so I went into the airing cupboard and got out the old "Dry Clean Only" shorts as it was
all that I could think of. I had a sheepskin coat that had to be dry cleaned in the wardrobe and my elder brother had a suit but I didn't want to carry them. As it was I did right because the offer was only for schoolwear for the new term as I should have known because when I looked at the poster it had a picture of a boy and girl in school uniform on it. Anyway by then I was glad to get rid of the stuff
and I left them in, took my ticket and went off to see if Michael was back from Ireland or wherever he'd been for Easter - we'd been up in Leeds.I didn't tell my Mum what I'd done as I wanted it to be a surprise and I just handed her the ticket that evening (which I'd managed not to lose!) and that was that.
On the Tuesday I went to collect the cleaning and the blazers were found quickly but the shorts weren't there. The woman asked me if I was sure that I had left them in and I began to wonder myself if I hadn't dropped them on the
way the previous Friday but I was pretty certain that I hadn't. Anyway on the payment slip the two blazers were ticked and there was written the shorts as "free item" so I must have dropped them in too. The woman said they'd turn up and if I came back later they would be there. I was quite annoyed as I wanted to take the clothes home and make the most of the last day of the holidays so I said that I
couldn't come back later. Then the woman said if I left my address I could take the blazers and they'd send on the shorts when they turned up. I was very reluctant to do that because I never gave out my address to anyone. Not for any other reason than that normally when an adult was asking you for your address then it was not for any sinister purpose but because you were in trouble and they'd be
round to tell Mum. I told her that I had forgotten it! The other woman in the shop started laughing and I started to get really annoyed with them. After all it was their fault not mine. In the end they let me pay for and collect the blazers but let me keep the ticket stub too so that I could come back for the shorts when they turned up. The woman made a note to that effect on the receipt and left the
copy by the till. I was only too glad to get out of there. I kept the receipt in my pocket and left Mum's change and the blazers at home and then got out to play.
When I got home for tea Mum was already back and as usual was starting to get our stuff ready to go back to school in the morning. I knew that I wouldn't be allowed out again because there were shoes to polish, bags to pack and all sorts before we got a bath and early night ready for the next day. Mum had hung the blazers up and I tried to forget all about things. Mum would never notice and I could go for the shorts the next day after school and no-one would know any different. My Mum didn't ask for the receipt as I don't know what I'd have done - but I was still a bit worried and Mum noticed but she just put it down to going back to school.
Anyway wouldn't you know it but while I was down polishing my shoes before tea the bell rang and the woman from the dry cleaners had come round with the shorts! Mum hadn't a clue as to what was going on and called me down. The woman said I'd looked so worried that she had decided to bring them round as we might have needed them for school the next day. That annoyed my Mum as she was quite proud that we had sufficient clothes for school - and later she told me not to go out looking scruffy and unwashed even for play and she put aside some of our older and torn playclothes to be only worn in the house when we were cleaning and so on. That was the trouble with the local shops - the people who worked in them lived nearby and noticed where everybody lived. When Michael and I went off trying to make some money we always went to the main shopping centre away from where we lived so there was less chance of being recognised when we made up our stories about having lost the bus fare home (or he did anyway). Anyway Mum was as ussual caught between being angry with me for not telling her what I had done and being pleased with me for trying to do something to save us time or money.The worst was that she invited the woman for a cup of tea and that led to another and another while they discussed all sorts of things - mainly schools, us and so on and I always found that embarrassing if not downright dangerous if anything had come out about what I had been up to while Mum was at work. These people in the local shops seemed to
know everything that went on and in the past I had come a cropper when one had mentioned to Mum during our Saturday shopping that I had been around the area when I had told Mum that I had been at someone else's house!
Anyway once the woman had left - to get her own children ready for school the next day! Mum wasn't too angry and she was pleased how the shorts had come up. She had me try them on and decided that I could wear them for school the next day. That was the limit because I really didn't like them but it was no time for arguments. As it happened they weren't on the ironing board the next day and I wore a pair of our normal school shorts to start back the next day.I
thought that Mum had forgotten but she had put them by for "best" and when Sunday came and I went to Sunday school she had me wear them. I didn't mind that too much as Sunday School was not like normal school and lot's of the children were dressed up in different types of clothes for that. Some boys even had suits. There was no playing before or after like at school and it was just a matter of wearing the clothes to Sunday School and then coming home and getting changed out of them after Sunday Lunch. There weren't many children from my primary school at my Sunday School so I didn't mind too! much - and as I say it was totally different
anyway. The other good thing was that Mum put these shorts into her wardrobe with our other best clothes and I was able to persaude her to let me wear them rather than the horrible check shorts for occaisions such as birthday parties (which I was invited to a couple of by a girl who was chasing me once I got into the top class) but I could tell you about that some other time if you like. The point was that
for "best" (like visiting or Sunday School) my Mum always thought that our best grey shorts were appropriate and I only had to wear the check shorts to Leeds because my Gran liked them so much. My Mum thought that the check shorts were more party clothes - or "gladrags" as she called them - and wanted me to wear them to the school Christmas Party and suchlike. I always kicked up a fuss and she gave in reluctantly and let me wear school shorts - but later on I could immediately divert her onto the "dry clean" shorts that I knew that she liked now and although I didn't they were preferable to being seen in the check shorts at a party!
The main point was that blazers were quite an important item for us. They were expensive, both to purchase and to dry clean. We were expected to care for them. As well as dry cleaning before going back to school Mum always had us brush them with a clothes brush before we went off to school. I used to brush the back of my brothers and he mine but that ususally ended up in trouble and Mum would have to come and do it for us!
When I got to secondary school I had a blazer too and that was dry cleaned occiasionally too. One incident I can recall was at games. We played rugby at my school and there were several "clubs". Club 1 were the boys who played in the school team and the the rest of us played on the other pitches. When there was a match against another school we were expected to watch and cheer them on. If it was a Saturday match we did not have to go - unless we were in Saturday morning
detention. I was once and normally that meant changing into your games kit at the sports ground and helping the groundsman push around the rollers and so on.Slave labour I call it but it was better than being indoors and I found it quite interesting. Once though when there was a match on the games master wanted me and another boy to act as line judges. To distinguish us from the players he had us
go and put our blazers on. I hated that as it was strange wearing the games kit with a blazer. I felt like a little kid again (I was wearing long trousers normally then and the games kit was rugby shirt and shorts). Anyway at least it was only at the games field but I didn't like it. In the Summer boys who served tea during cricket matches wore their blazers too - but I never did that as I never had proper cricket whites anyway and swapped cricket for swimming when I was about 14. Boys also had caps for cricket too - but I could write
seperately about games at secondary school as it was quite a palaver - but not so much fun as primary school.
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