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Thought I'd give you my experiences on this subject. I've already explained to HBC (in talking about Germany) how I loved my sandals as a kid
and wore them for as long as my mum would let me – well into the Autumn. Most kids in contrast couldn't wait to get back into “proper shoes”. There was no school rules on when sandals could be worn--it was just when mum's decided and most kids did at my primary school in the Summer. We boys still had to wear our long socks with sandals for school even though girls could wear short
socks. I preferred this for some reason. I hated it when my mum made me wear short socks out of school.
I've already explained to HBC (in talking about Germany) how I loved my sandals as a kid and wore them for as long as my mum would let me – well into the Autumn. Most kids in contrast couldn't wait to get back into “proper shoes”.
There was no school rules on when sandals could be worn--it was just when mum's decided and most kids did at my primary school in the Summer. There were regulations about hosiery. We boys still had to wear our long socks with sandals for school even though girls could wear short socks.
I preferred the long socks. I hated it when my mum made me wear short socks out of school. With sandals my school socks were thicker and more comfortable to
wear with sandals. Generally - because we had to wear kneesocks for school - and they were strict about keeping them pulled up I sort of got used to
them. When my mum made me wear ankle socks in Summer I felt undressed in a funny sort of way - it was a different feeling than normal that's all. I also felt that kneesocks were more "grown up" - my little brother wore short socks before he started school. Paradoxically as I said - when my little brother wore short socks and blue sandals on that morning I describe I wanted them too - I didn't like the garters then - but as I got older I got used to them. And most of my mates wore long socks out of school too - to be honest we just didn't bother changing out of them after school even though we were meant to change out of our other clothes. It was in the school holidays that my mum made me wear ankle socks out of school - she thought sunshine was good for you. The same was true with short sleeved shirts too - which I disliked - why I insisted on wearing long sleeved ones in Germany. My mum though thought long socks and garters correct for dressing up though - like when we went up to Leeds - even in the Summer. My biggest arguments with my mum over clothes were Wellington boots in the Winter - which I've told you about - and short
socks in the Summer - I hated them both!
One thing I remember about sandals was polishing them.My mum used to make us polish our school shoes the night before but sometimes in the morning she'd notice we hadn't done them properly and send us down to do them again. Me and my brother would fight over the brush and just polish them up as best we could while still wearing them.Once this happened when I was wearing my sandals. I got the brown brush and just started polishing them on as usual. I forgot the holes in the sandals though and got polish all over my socks – mum was not pleased,
Looking at the Germany pictures – I must have had those sandals new for that trip.You can tell that they are new as the crepe soles are still white – they soon went black from the London streets and you couldn't get them clean – compare the ones I am wearing in my primary school photo. The soles also wore down fairly quickly – you can see that too in comparing the photos.
My school sandals were always brown and always Clarke's. I always had a favourite pattern on the front – three “petals” - and was dissapointed if they were out of stock when we went to get new ones. I have added to the Brands section of the HBC English school sandal page. our Clarke's look different than the images on the HBC sandal page showing prep school boys wear.These are more of an "adult" style and I would guess that Clarkes only made sandals up until the age of 11 or 12 so the older boys at prep schools. Boys at prep schools went up to 13. [HBC note: the boys finished prep school at 12-13 years of age. Boys at this age vary in size. The smaller boys could find school sandals. The larger boys could not and would wear adult styles if the school insisted on sandals. They would have more expensive types of clothing
than our mass produced ones anyway. (I mentioned that before as regards brand name shorts whereas ours were BHS or other chain stores).
My mum never saw sandals as “best” wear even in the Summer and even though they were allowed at school and we were allowed to play in them.
I may have confused you when I was talking below about boys at my secondary school not
wearing sandals in the prep department even in Summer - I was thinking of the prep depatment at my grammar school. In this case these boys did not wear sandals at school from age 9 years onwards - which made them
unusual as we at state primaries did and boys at "proper" prep schools did too as HBC images
show. As I have said before boys attending the sort of prep departments (I shouldn't call them prep schools really as it's confusing) attached to grammar schools like mine were expected to dress in similar uniform to the "upper school" that they all went on to - so if the older boys weren't allowed sandals nor were the prep department boys - although as I said before short trousers and caps were still compulsory for them but not us. Boys from real prep schools all went on to the various public schools at age 13 so they had a complete change of uniform then. I think that these prep schools did have all sorts of different uniform requirements - different types of clothing for Summer/ Winter etc as I recall reading that it
cost a fortune to clothe them and they went off to school with huge great trunks. [HBC note: This was tghe case before World War II, but many schools began simplifying the uniform after the WAr.] Primary schools such as mine did make the effort to have a fairly smart uniform - but they had to take cost into account - there were children from a wide range of backgrounds at my school - and so didn't have set Summer and Winter uniforms - the basic uniform was the same all year round and things like white or grey shirts or sandals or shoes was left up to Mums to decide (excpt for school trips). Girls too could wear skirts and blouses or gingham frocks in the Summer - but like our sandals their was no fixed changover date set by the school - it was again Mums who decided depending on the weather on any particular day.
I also told you about Didier – my little brothers exchange partner who wore sandals when he was staying with us which seemed odd round my way.
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