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Dad had several shorttime postings when we first returned to Britain. This meant that I sampled more schools. I wound up attending primaries all over Britain. Not being at either of them particularly long and only being about 6 or 7 at the time there is not much to say other than it was always good to be the centre of attention as the new boy,
especially as these schools were not populated by Station Brats (occasionally called Runway Brats) so my lifestyle was something very different. Having a deep tan, blonde hair and (to them) a strange accent all added to the fun. I attended several different state primary schools. My early memories are a liitle vague, but as I began to set them down on paper, more came to me than I expected. For some reason I seem to recall PE more than classroom activities.
One of these schools was in a fairly affluent town in
the South East but I was only there a matter of weeks. All I remember about
it was doing maths with stickle bricks (multi-coloured plastic bricks which
would never rival Lego my favourite toy at the time and for years after) and
an episode on the climbing frame in the playground. I was only there a few
weeks so would not have had a uniform as such. Standard school grey shorts,
collared shirt, hated socks (knee length & grey) & shoes and a grey v-neck
pullover. The a-typical schoolboy uniform of the time.
The next school I attended was for slightly longer as it included some sunny
Summer weather and snow. In Britain that could be virtually any date! It
was a small country primary in North Yorkshire and some of my cousins went
there although only one of the boys was in my class. There was no uniform
code but all boys wore school shorts, a school style shirt ie button up with
collar but there were a variety of colours and patterns, knee or ankle grey
socks and a jumper (some hand-knitted, knitting was a very popular past-time
for women and girls; in some parts of the Country also for men and boys but
definitely NOT in those parts, not in public anyway). My brothers and my cousins school
clothes were exactly the same. I remember we had to change into play
clothes straight after school but my cousins usually stayed in their
uniforms until bath & bedtime. One of the big things about this new school was that they had just had a swimming pool built. It was not very big, maybe 25 yards long at a guess
but it was a pool.
My next move was to an RAF Station in East Anglia where I attended a local
school. With so many RAF brats there and several of the teachers being
married to RAF personnel it was more like a regular (to us) British Forces
school with the usual wide assortment of nationalities and people from all
over the country. The new school was larger than the others and what was known as a First and
Middle. Being at the younger end and having different play and lunch times
I can’t recall much about the older children. My brother went by bus to a
school in nearby town with the other ‘big boys’. Again, there was no set
uniform for me. Maybe this was because with the ever mobile military
families it would have been unworkable or it was an early 70s statement
towards new approaches to teaching and lifestyles. Dresses for
girls and shorts and shirts for the boys. I remember having an anorak which my Mum
had threaded threaded a pair of gloves on a length of elastic through the
arms and with the hood up it was really snug, just peering out through a
little slit in the front.
I spent just over a year at my new school which would see me complete my primary education shortly after my 11th birthday. It was located at Darlington. As with my other schools
there was no set uniform but a sort of unofficial dress code comprising a collared shirt and jumper, trousers and shoes. Shorts were only worn in the warmer months and were not ‘school shorts’. I can’t remember much about my trousers but they were in different colours like navy blue, brown etc and either cord or poly/nylon type materials. During the Summer shorts were, well, short. Very much the fashion in sports, casual and school wear. Three brothers who lived along the road from me and the eldest of whom was one of my best friends were not allowed to wear longs outside of school from Easter to the Autumn half-term (known then as Potato Picking Week) and most of theirs seemed to be nylon athletics shorts with slits on the sides. They seemed to have every colour going. same as elsewhere; in the hall it was everything off and a pair of
sports shorts (no particular style specified but they were usually white or
black nylon and either tight fitting or with leg holes you could have
probably managed to get another half leg width in because they flapped about
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