Figure 1.--I haven't any photographs of my experiences with forgotten items - I always kept my kit at school, so it never got forgotten. This 1990 photograph from another school makes my point nicely about forgotten PE kit and what we were expected to do. This looks to me like a classic case of bringing the wrong kit. I surmise that the boy on the left has brought his indoor PE kit (just white shorts) on a day when he has outdoor PE, specifically cricket. The fact that it's at the beginning of the summer term probably explains his error. As it would be unsafe to play cricket barefoot, he has put on his everyday black school shoes, without socks. It looks as if it's quite a warm day, so he's probably more comfortable than the other boy who looks rather warm.

For those who had forgotten or lost their kit, the choice was, in theory, simple: do without (except, of course, shorts); borrow from someone else (easy for shorts, as we all had two pairs, but not always so for anything else); or find something from lost property. We were strictly forbidden to do PE in the gym with just socks on our feet, as it would be too slippery: if you hadn’t got your plimsolls or if they were too dirty, you had to go barefoot. I remember on one occasion a friend who had left his plimsolls at home asked me what it was like barefoot in the gym. I assured him that it was no problem, and he did the lesson barefoot - but thereafter he remembered his plimsolls! In practice, the rules were observed strictly for the gym, and in the summer outside as well, but generally not in the winter. In the summer, most of us took our shirts off for PE outside anyway, and a few of us went barefoot for such activities as it was sensible (i.e. pretty well anything except cricket). I had started going barefoot outside in the summer term of my second year, when we were playing softball: a friend was himself barefoot, and suggested I should try it. I soon found it more comfortable than wearing plimsolls, just as I did indoors. At first, I wore plimsolls to get to the sports field, took them off to play, and put them back to return to the changing room: this was because in order to get to the field, we had to run over some rough grass. I soon found that this rough area was no problem while barefoot, so after that I left my plimsolls in the changing room. I was amused to see one other boy try out going barefoot for just one session, and then go back to wearing plimsolls (with which he never wore socks). Among the girls going barefoot was far more common, and typically in the gym, or outside in the summer, about a third of them would be barefoot. In the winter, it was usually different, and the extent to which the rules were enforced depended on the weather. I never remember seeing, or hearing of, anyone at my school who was made to go shirtless or barefoot outside when it was unpleasantly cold - in fact, the converse was true, that we were sometimes required to wear shirts when we’d have preferred not to. Just occasionally you’d see someone barefoot outside in the winter: perhaps running round the field instead of playing rugby, but not if it was unpleasantly cold. Very rarely, one of the girls would have to play netball barefoot outside in the winter, on the tennis courts. It was expected that if you hadn’t got part of your kit, you’d find something or go without: we knew the rules and worked to them. So if - say - you were doing athletics, and had forgotten your plimsolls, you wouldn’t ask the teacher what to do, you’d just go outside in your bare feet. Both pupils and teachers expected it. Therefore, if (like me) you preferred to go barefoot, if anyone asked (unlikely) I would say I’d forgotten my plimsolls and it would be believed and accepted. For another example, I remember a girl who on one occasion had evidently left her plimsolls in the main part of the school; she changed into her PE kit and then ran barefoot across to the main school to collect her plimsolls. Nobody would have thought this particularly unusual (it was quite a warm March day). Like me, she didn't normally wear socks with plimsolls. Most of the teachers weren’t bothered if we went outside stripped to the waist: once or twice I was asked by a teacher if I was warm enough, and when I said that I was, he just shrugged. They just left it up to us: we never stripped off outside if we reckoned it was too cold!

David