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I recall a good bit about PR in our primary school. I imagine like many boys this was the hihh-point of the day. We normally had great fun at PE.
P.E. Was always a great chance at my primary school to get out of our stuffy classroom.It was also a chance for me to throw off the two most hated items of school uniform – my tie and my socks, which we'd leave in the cloakroom and get down to some serious play.
We never had any “gym kit”. Often when doung PE inside we took off our shoes. I remember it was always good to feel your bare feet on the linoleum floor and have your shirt collar undone. When going outside we put our plimsols on. We had coloured bands if we were playing team games in the school.
P.E. was always in the school hall in the colder weather. Our favourite game was “Pirates” - crossing the hall on the benches without touching the floor unless you stepped into a plastic hoop. In the Summer we'd carry the equipment outside and play in the playground.
When we went outside we'd wear our plimsolls and have team games. The school had a small paved platyground surrounded by a a wall. We wouldvusually have our outdoor play there. Once a week we would go to a nearny park for a football match with another school.
At our school everyone was in one of four teams – Green, Red, Blue or Yellow. Each class was divided equally between these four teams and you'd wear a little round button badge on your blazer in your teams colour. For PE there were bands in your team colours that you wore like a sash and if we
went outside these team games could be quite competetitive – normally taking the form of some sort of race from one end of the playground to the other, alteratively hopping on left or right leg or leapfrogging over each other. This competetiveness would spill over into the lunch break and you'd often end up falling out with a friend who had been in another team, or even someone in your own team who you feel had caused you to lose in the P.E. class so I don't know if this was a good idea or not. I suppose it was an attempt
to install some sort of group identity across the school – for instance in the lunch hour you would sit at a table with children of all ages, but from the same team so it would give you a chance to mix with children outside of your class and the older ones were expected to help the younger ones. This idea of teams was also used to instill a sense of “letting the side down” more generally – if someone was punished for some reason they would also earn a “black mark” for their team and conversely get a “merit point” if they did
something good. At the beginning of the school week the headmisstress would announce which team had earned the most points the week before and for that week they would be given some privilige – like their table being allowed up first for “seconds” at lunchtime. It always seemed to me unfair that someone in another class who you might not even know but happened to be in your
team could affect your chance of getting second helpings of blancmange – but that's how it was.
The other time we got out of the classroom was for “Music and Movement” which was broadcast on the radio by the BBC. This involved moving to music as instucted by the broadcaster – always a woman with a typical BBC plummy accent that,as I got older, I found patronising – but then the broadcasts were aimed at all ages. One scenario I remember was that you'd start off being an
“acorn” all hunched up as small as possible on the floor and then gradually “grow” into a “big tall oak tree” standing on tiptoe and stretching out your arms as instructed by the plummy voice and the tinkling piano music.
One incident I do recall was when we had a trainee teacher for P.E. in primary school. We did not have a gym and did P.E. in the main school hall. She made us boys take off our shirts and shorts. We normally just took off our shoes, socks. and ties. There was no P.E. kit except for rubber soled plimpsoles if we were going outside. I remember from then on trying to avoid wearing a pair of the old-fashioned white briefs that my grandmother used to buy us in case it happened again--which it didn't. I recall that it was the first time as a boy that I'd really been aware of underwear as far as school was concerned. We just wore what Mum put out for us without any real thought on the matter.
As far as sports went – we only played football against other schools when we were in the top class (the last year when we were 10/11) and for that we wore the school's own football shirts – fairly old fashioned so they must have been there for years! There were also school socks. The shirts were half green and half yellow – our school colours – divided by a vertical line. You never see shirts like that now. The socks had horizontal bands in the same colours. Very few
boys had boots – we played in our plimpsoles mainly and just wore our normal school shorts. Some boys did bring in different shorts to change in to at their mum's insistance but as there were no proper changing facilities at the gravel pitch in the park where we used to play. Some didn't bother and took the chance that their mums wouldn't notice when they got home. My mum always sent us off to
school in older shorts if it was games day (Friday afternoon). Like I say – the school owned the shirts and the socks and we'd have to take them home on Friday and bring them back washed on the Monday. They were never that muddy since, as I say, we played on a gravel pitch in the park not grass although even that could get fairly mucky in the Winter. The downside to this was that you couldn't
really play full out as falling would result in serious grazed knees or elbows (these old-fashioned shirts all had short-sleeves by the way which was different from today). The one difference was that there was a plain yellow shirt for the goalkeeper. We took it in turns to play in goal. Most of the schools we played against were the same I think – the school owned the kit – although some all had
proper football shorts too. Some boys had their own shinpads that the school didn't provide but that didn't matter too much unless you were playing against a team who did have boots (they had solid toes then and you knew all about it if you got kicked on the shin!). The main injury problem as I said was falling or getting hit on the head with the ball which was heavy leather and got heavier
when wet. If the weather was really bad the games would be called off. My brother had his own boots and shinpads but that's because he played for the cubs too. This didn't bother me – I didn't inherit them as he went on to secondary school with them.
We also, the boys (the girls played netball), played football on Friday afternoons – weather permitting. This involved a walk to the gravel pitch in the local park. Some boys had proper football boots but most of us wore our plimsolls. I can never remember any boy changing into football shorts – we stayed in our school shorts – but the school did have football shirts and socks (with shinpads) in the school colours which you would be given to change into. You'd have to take the shirt and socks home for your mum to wash and
bring them in to school the next Monday. Although I loved football as a kid I never really liked these Friday afternoon games. We'd play against other schools in the area and there was always some sort of rivalry which came out on the pitch. One was when we played a Catholic primary school who's pupils were mainly second generation Irish and they'd take the opportunity to get a few kicks and trips in on us. The worst though was Swakely Road school. They were near to our school but of a completely different type – they had no uniform for instance and they looked on us as a load of “poofs”. We'd sometimes have to fight (or rather run from) them after school. On the football pitch they always seemed about 2 years older than us – they weren't – and bigger and we always ended the games against them with bruises and grazed knees (a conseqence of the gravel pitch and being shoved over) and losing about 12-0. They never hardly wore any football kit at all – just their normal clothes. The class teachers took it in turns to referee and ours never gave us any protection saying we would have to learn to stick up for ourselves – which always seemed unfair as when one of us got up the courage to try to tackle their centre forward all of his mates would pile in and then they'd get a free kick.
In the Summer we played cricket on the same gravel pitch.The school had a set of portable stumps – with a heavy metal base and springs which could be put up on solid ground. We used to carry them over to the park – they were heavy! The teacher who took us for games was the only man teacher in the school and he taught a class of boys who were not going to sit the 11-plus exam. This was terrible – that had been decided when they were about 8 years old and they were siphoned off from the normal school class system at that age and spent 3 years in this class with this man. Some boys used to call it the “dunces' class” which always made
me very angry. There were no girls in this class as even the ones who were not going to sit the 11-plus were allowed to stay within the normal system as they wouldn't be seen as “getting in the way” of the children selected to sit the 11-plus (most at my school). When I was 9 I had a serious illness and was off school for a long time. I told you about it when I was mentioning holidays
– but I got better during that Summer. I had work sent home but I had a fever so I didn't do it. My mum stayed off work and I did a lot of reading (not school work but historical novels which fed my fevered brain and gave me many vivid dreams. My brothers used to complain when I was loudly driving out the Normans from Ely cathedral with Hereward the Wake at three o'clock in the morning and
mum would have to come and out me in her bed while she got what sleep she could in our armchair. It also gave me a love of books and of History which I think was worth being ill for!). The point is that I'd missed so much work that when school started again I was put in the “dunces' class” until I caught up. My brother loved this – but it was the one time my mum really went for him if he started on
about it. I loved it as the man teacher – Mr Burke – was a really kind man to all of the boys. He sort of knew that they were going to have a hard time as they were not being given a chance right at the start of their lives. He also spent time with me though and got me back “on track” after a term and a half and I was transferred back into the “normal” system then. I missed the “dunces' class” as it
had been fun – but maybe it was because I knew that I would not be stuck there. It was also all boys which suited me at that age. Anyway – the point was that Mr Burke took games. He was not strict – it's funny that he was one of the oldest teachers in the school – the other was Mrs Livingstone who we had in the top class – and they were the most liberal! The headmisstress who was quite young was very strict and I've already told you about Mrs Mack – my younger brother's infant teacher – and Miss Sharp – who was a trainee and a tyrant and I feel sorry for the kids at any school she was appointed to. Anyway – the one thing Mr Burke
would do was to make any boys who had been misbehaving in his class carry the heavy stumps! to the park. They used to complain that it was hurting their arms – but they weren't that bad. They were just awkward to carry as two had to hold one stump each and then try to walk in step. We never had pads or anything – we normally only played with a tennis ball. Again we played in our school
clothes with plimpsoles. No “whites” or anything. Like for football we changed into our plimpsoles in the cloakroom at school – and it seemed really great going out of school not “properly” dressed. In Summer we didnt't even wear our blazers – it gave a real “Friday Afternoon” feeling to things.
The other sport we had was swimming.That was always in midweekWe also went swimming once a week which I loved once I'd learned to swim. There was also friction there as one school would be coming out of the local baths as we were waiting to go in but this was mainly limited to name-calling and when we met yet another school coming in as we were coming out I always joined in with my mates in standing up to them as I felt “tough” after a good swim. The only thing that I can tell you about there is the fact that I was one of the best off in terms of swiming trunks. Like all boys I'd always worn the same pull up elasticated swimming trunks for school swimming lessons that we'd worn on seaside holidays. These were of all sorts – plain colours, striped or whatever. Sometimes when we went on holiday with my mum we would have forgotten to pack them(the most important item for a seaside holiday!) - but that could happen in the rush to get away and my mum would always buy us a new pair from Woolworths in the resort that we were staying in. They weren't that dear [expensive]. However when I joined my swimming club when I was 10 we all had the same trunks. They were bright red and
made by “Speedo”. They were also very expensive and my mum made a big deal out of buying them for me. I was so proud of those trunks – they had a proper tie at the waist and no one else in my primary school had them. I had raced against (and beaten) boys older than myself in Germany in them so I saw them as “lucky”.The German club also had uniform trunks – theirs were blue and with their own club logo on them – ours just had the “Speedo” logo. The German boys also had blue tracksuits. They normally just wore the tops when they came out if the water – they were two shades of blue too. We just pulled on a jumper if we were cold. But back at primary school I was king. Some boys had swimming badges – 100 yards etc. sewn on to their trunks – but I'd never have a badge sewn on to mine (I'd swum across a lake in the Bavarian Alps!) and besides I associated sewing badges onto things with cubs (and therefore my brother!) and thought that it was “showing off”.
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