Figure 1.-.

We had to make sure our sandals and shoes were polished. Having unpolished shoes was punishable at both my primary and secondary schools and my mum (and I know other mums) put great emphasis on keeping shoes clean. We had a "shoebox" with all the brushes and polish in and mum made us polish our shoes every morning (sandals too - with the "brown brush". We had different ones for the black and brown polish with the colour written on. If you accidently used the black brush on brown sandals it would look bad - smeary. My mum would go mad then - especially as the black brush would also contaminate the brown polish). A lot of polishing was also to do with preserving and waterproofing the leather - another reason why it was more common in Europe perhaps?--the weather. I've told you before,I think,that I even used to polish my satchel - but with a cheaper brand of polish than the shoe polish mum bought. Later - at secondary school we had a liquid white cleaner to clean our gym shoes - the primary school plimpsoles were black so we never cleaned them. My uncle - who had been in the Army said he always judged a person by the state of their shoes. That's why I never used to complain about shoe polishing too much. A lot of English schools were run along semi-military lines then - I mean as far as attention to detail and wearing the uniform properly were concerned.

Importance

We had to make sure our sandals and shoes were polished. Having unpolished shoes was punishable at both my primary and secondary schools and my mum (and I know other mums) put great emphasis on keeping shoes clean. A factor here was that because shoes were probably the emost expensive of our school uniform items (along with blazers). Thus Mum always made us take care of our shoes.That meant polishing and was something else I wasn't too happy about but it had to be done!

Shoebox

We had a "shoebox" with all the brushes and polish in and mum made us polish our shoes every morning (sandals too - with the "brown brush". We had different ones for the black and brown polish with the colour written on. If you accidently used the black brush on brown sandals it would look bad - smeary. My mum would go mad then - especially as the black brush would also contaminate the brown polish).

Shoe Care

A lot of polishing was also to do with preserving and waterproofing the leather - another reason why it was more common in Europe perhaps?--the weather. Of course the school wanted shoes to be polished too but with Mum it wasn't just about appearance - which did concern her too of course - but preserving the leather too.

Nighttime Ritual

We polished our shoes every night just before bath and bed and I remember Mum showing us how to do it properly from when we were quite little. We always took the laces out of the shoes so that we didn't get polish all over them and so we could polish the tongue and so on. Then we spread newspaper on the bathroom floor and polished our shoes on that. If it was sandals that we were polishing we used the brown brush and polish and if shoes the black. Whatever we always ended up with polish on our hands but so long as we didn't get it on the floor to be trod around the house Mum didn't mind. She just made us clear up the newspaper had us wash our hands and then plonked us into the bath - as usual me one end and my eldest brother the other with my little brother in the middle to stop us splashing each other!

The Morning

In the mornings we would buff up our shoes with a cloth before relacing them and putting them on just before we left for school.

Laceing

Mum also had a way of lacing the shoes so that the laces crossed underneath and they looked straight on the tops but I could never get the hang of this and she normally ended up doing it for me. (The same was true of my tie and you can see why I was never in the cubs with their knot practice as I was "all fingers and thumbs" as Mum out it over this sort of thing.) You can also see why I preferred sandals as you could just buckle them up easily although they were harder to polish as you had to avoid getting the polish on the inside as they had holes in the front.

Satchell

I've told you before, I think,that I even used to polish my satchel - but with a cheaper brand of polish than the shoe polish mum bought.

Plimsols

Later - at secondary school we had a liquid white cleaner to clean our gym shoes - the primary school plimpsoles were black so we never cleaned them.

Wellies

When it was really wet or there was snow Mum made us wear wellies to school and then we had to carry our shoes in to change into in the cloakroom. Sometimes though after school I would play around the duckpond in the park with some mates after school and I did get my shoes wet on the inside. This was a serious matter for Mum and it meant stuffing the wet shoes with newspaper and leaving them overnight neat to the fire or the oven - although not *too* near or the leather would crack.

Our Uncle

My uncle - who had been in the Army said he always judged a person by the state of their shoes. That's why I never used to complain about shoe polishing too much. My Mum was an expert on shoecare because my uncle (her brother) had been in the army and he knew all about shoe (or rather boot) preservation and passed the knowledge on to Mum in good time for us to benefit from it too!

Military Lines

A lot of English schools were run along semi-military lines then - I mean as far as attention to detail and wearing the uniform properly were concerned.

Bill