School

I was at a preparatory school in southern ireland.

Chronology

It was during the 1970s.

The Uniform

Our school was quite traditional in terms of uniform. The uniform was grey shirt and jumper, school tie with grey short trousers and knee socks with a coloured top. This uniform was mandatory for all boys up to common entrance age as was the norm in the three or four Irish prep schools of that era.

Caps

We had caps but they were abolished in about 1972. They were black with the school crest on the front.

Blazer and tie

The blazer was black with a yellow crest on the breast pocket. The tie was striped in the school colours maroon yellow and black.

Short trousers

We all wore grey short trousers. The shorts we wore on Sunday were sunday best and therefore different but they did seem more formal and stiff as they had a crease down the front.

Socks

The sock tops were maroon yellow and black At the school before prep we wore the same uniform because it was the junior school

Shoes

The shoes you spoke of were slip ons and they were of the loafer style but without the penny band ie they were just plain. Actually you could wear lace ups too if you so wished. The house shoes were brown and had a yellow ribbeb sole, they were lace up and leather but the sole was soft like rubber to protect the floors they were sometimes worn to play cricket in as the cricket boots were expensive. We wore black slip on shoes and house shoes for indoors.

Summer uniform

During the summer term we went what was called summer dress which was a gray tank-top pullover (sleeveless), no tie, and ankle socks (grey) and the usual grey shorts.

Boys' Opinion

We boys didn't like the uniform at all. Of course we all wore the same uniform at school, so it didn't make much dufference there. Shorts were also worn at the other prep schools. Many of us older boys were rather embarassed to still be wearing short trousers. The embarrassing part was really the other non-prep schools and girls schools who we would encounter from time to time. you will appreciate tha this was the time of flares and long hair whilst we had short back and sides and short pants so we looked out of place if not old fashioned. The uniform was strictly adherred to and caused a great deal of anguish to us as whenever we had to leave the confines of the school. this would often happen on a sunday when the obligatory uniform was blazer, shorts and white shirt.

Incidents

I can remember one incident when we went on a field trip to a Dublin museum. I was in my last term at the school and therefore almost 6 foot tall. I was wearing the sunday uniform of shorts white shirt knee socks with band but my Sunday uniform was too small for me as it had not been updated owing to the fact that I only needed to wear it once a week and on special occaisions. As I was about to finish school, it really didn't make much sence buying a new uniform. I can clearly remember that the shorts in particular were too small for me. There were some teenage girls at the museum. When they saw me they started pointing at my legs and sniggering. I think that they even followed our group around for a while. It has remained with me to this day as I could do nothing about it.

Clothing Inspection

The matron at our school insisted that her boys would be turned out correctly, twice a term she would hold a clothing inspection where one was told to parade in her sewing room where she would either pass of fail each boy's standard of dress. The inspections with the matron were conducted by dorm in her sewing room. You were told to report to her room an parade in front of her. If she wanted to update any one garment she would order it from the outfitters and you would go to her room and change into the new clothes in front of her. On one occaision i rember standing in my underwear whilst she sewed in a new nametape to a pair of shorts. There were girls at the school who used to help her to sort out the boys socks as a punishment and they would often be in the matrons room during inspections. We older boys found this embarassing. The matron did not really say much as she would just state that your jumper was too big or your shorts needed replacing.

The most memorable thing about this was that we hated wearing shorts and felt silly but this matron had a thing about boys being boys to the extent that she would order a new pair of shorts for a boy from the school outfitters if they did not fit in her opinion. What she deemed a fit was a tight fit and anything baggy had to be replaced and if the material and cut of these dreaded shorts was not the one supplied by the official outfitters she would replace them. The result was that all of us were dressed almost exactly the same