Birmingham in 1960s

[I Am Nico]

Nico this is black polished shoes I'm guessing and not make up ?

Sorry the Mac keeps changing things when I send stuff. Second word school should read shoes. We stood out but we never won anything , second place maybe. Great fun though. No one was allowed to wear make up to school unlike now, long hair was tied up, with navy or blue ribbon, nothing else, no bobbles or slides, were permitted no boys' hair must touch their collar , no bright socks, for not adhering to these things we were caned late 60s and seventies. We had to look smart. Though some could not afford to. They were segregated mostly to the school annexe! I was told by older children if their beret was off kilter they got caned I don't know if this was true. We used to rebel and try and get different styles and shades of pullover but in the school colours but not designated for the pullover colour, or not wear a blazer, pull out trousers down over our red socks, which is hard when they are already too short, . Girls had to wear a skirt or a pinafore dress, No trousers. No tights or stockings till you were 15 unless they were exceptionally tall. No coloured bras! No jewellery except sleepers and only on the ears. How times change

 

[Dionysius//88]

Yes I can see the pitfalls of the coloured bra ,mass hysteria no doubt

 

[I Am Nico]

Yes I can see the pitfalls of the coloured bra ,mass hysteria no doubt

The pettiness of it all. Some girls had polo mint hair slides, the senior mistress jokily told the girls to pop them in their mouth and come back with a hair grip, She wasn't normally that pleasant, she was evil but she needed the choristers. For some reason she had the job of how the choir looked, but not sounded. See was the Senior Mistress. The only one allowed to cane the girls but could cane boys. Male House Masters or the head could only cane boys. A lot of our teachers did not agree with corporal punishment. Parents didn't either. I was lined up for the cane with my orange socks but they ran out of time and I was spared. That was 1970. I got it in in 1967 with a plank of wood a giant ruler. Probably for talking. One older lady teacher got a lad to roll his sleeve up and she spanked him by hand. For insubordination. He now runs his own business.

 

[I Am Nico]

I rebelled just before I left during exam time. I came in late, not on purpose but had to walk the proverbial the plank in my black and red platforms with segs on, my non uniform trousers and jacket, shirt and no tie. I suppose we will let you take your exam, said the teacher. probably 1972.

 

[lmr3103]

I went to a strict grammar school and was always being sent to the deputy headmistress , a very refined Miss (for the girls) for wearing jewellery ( studs only allowed) and make up ( the smallest trace of eyeliner).
We had to wear our hair in ‘bunches’ until we were in 4th year, and socks (no tights) until the same year.
I just missed out on the berets in Winter and straw boaters in Summer.
And as for coloured bras, I didn’t know they existed….. !

 

[I Am Nico]

I went to a strict grammar school and was always being sent to the deputy headmistress , a very refined Miss (for the girls) for wearing jewellery ( studs only allowed) and make up ( the smallest trace of eyeliner).
We had to wear our hair in ‘bunches’ until we were in 4th year, and socks (no tights) until the same year.
I just missed out on the berets in Winter and straw boaters in Summer.
And as for coloured bras, I didn’t know they existed….. !

My schoolfriend wore a sky blue bra and was called out for it. A male gym teacher walked through the girls' changing rooms as a short cut to the gym. Some girls were in bras they all thought it was funny.

 

[Lemonella]

The pettiness of it all. Some girls had polo mint hair slides, the senior mistress jokily told the girls to pop them in their mouth and come back with a hair grip, She wasn't normally that pleasant, she was evil but she needed the choristers. For some reason she had the job of how the choir looked, but not sounded. See was the Senior Mistress. The only one allowed to cane the girls but could cane boys. Male House Masters or the head could only cane boys. A lot of our teachers did not agree with corporal punishment. Parents didn't either. I was lined up for the cane with my orange socks but they ran out of time and I was spared. That was 1970. I got it in in 1967 with a plank of wood a giant ruler. Probably for talking. One older lady teacher got a lad to roll his sleeve up and she spanked him by hand. For insubordination. He now runs his own business.

I can remember being hit on my palm with a ruler, some of the teachers in the 60s were evil, there was no comeback for them, they got away with too much.

 

[Astoness]

yes its a sad fact that back in the day some children really had a tough time with the teachers etc..thank goodness this sort of behaviour can no longer happen...i had a couple of incidents for reasons that was so ridiculous..got one stroke of the stick for stepping slightly out of line in the playground when i was about 10 and the other was at a swimming lesson when i was about 12...we had to hold onto the bars and start kicking but i was terrified so the teacher did no more than put her foot on my head and pushed me under the water...that did it..to my regret i never did learn to swim..its things like this that we never forget but can impact our lives..

lyn

 

[I Am Nico]

yes its a sad fact that back in the day some children really had a tough time with the teachers etc..thank goodness this sort of behaviour can no longer happen...i had a couple of incidents for reasons that was so ridiculous..got one stroke of the stick for stepping slightly out of line in the playground when i was about 10 and the other was at a swimming lesson when i was about 12...we had to hold onto the bars and start kicking but i was terrified so the teacher did no more than put her foot on my head and pushed me under the water...that did it..to my regret i never did learn to swim..its things like this that we never forget but can impact our lives..

lyn

That's horrible, I was regaling some of the stories watered down, to the family here for the holidays. The found it hard to believe. We have an older friend who had worse stories of teachers who hated some children for no reason and vented it on them.

 

[Dionysius//88]

My schoolfriend wore a sky blue bra and was called out for it. A male gym teacher walked through the girls' changing rooms as a short cut to the gym. Some girls were in bras they all thought it was funny.

Nico how did you know what colour bra's the young ladies were wearing , in the four years I was at school i never had an inkling ??

 

[Dionysius//88]

I read with interest the members unhappy memories of their schooldays, although I never achieved any academic honour's I must say I loved school . Yes we had some OTT maybe sadistic teachers , one such teacher enjoyed twisting boys sideboards that would make you stand if you were sitting down . Another would ask you to bend over then with his rule on edge take slices out of your bottom , then of course you had the board rubber throwers . In the four years I was there I received twenty four of the best . I'm not proud of that it's the price I had to pay for doing wrong . At the time I was at secondary school the Teddy Boy's were still active with their wayout clothes and weapons of course , I loved the school dinners and was quite misty eyed on leaving day, So after reading your experiences I'd ask you this would you rather go through it again, or go to school nowadays with a lot of the kids have knives,whereas in my day there were none ?

 

[John L]

I read with interest the members unhappy memories of their schooldays, although I never achieved any academic honour's I must say I loved school . Yes we had some OTT maybe sadistic teachers , one such teacher enjpyed twisting boys sideboards that would make you stand if you were sitting down . Another would ask you to bend over then with his rule on edge take slices out of your bottom , then of course you had the board rubber throwers . In the four years I was there I received twenty four of the best . I'm not proud of that it's the price I had to pay for doing wrong . At the time I was at secondary school the Teddy Boy's were still active with their wayout clothes and weapons of course , I loved the school dinners and was quite misty eyed on leaving day, So after reading your experiences I'd ask you this would you rather go through it again, or go to school nowadays with a lot of the kids have knives,whereas in my day there were none ?

I'm the same as you. They say school's the best time of your life and looking back, I have to agree. I eventually did well with my examinations, but for most of my time football, rugby and cricket took the priority. We settled the occasional arguments mainly without coming to blows, but even when we fought, we knew the most someone would get was a badly bruised reputation, unlike today when some would as soon pull a knife, as lose a little "street cred". Unfortunately, that attitude continues out of school and has made much of Brum, unsafe for both old and young, to walk without looking over their shoulder.