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“LIGHTS OUT, NO
TALKING” |
CLOTHES |
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By the time he was ready to visit Mr.Chadwick, a new boy would already have picked up his items of linen for daily use. These would have included items such as his underpants and socks; (in summer) khaki shorts, khaki shirt and khaki handkerchief. In winter, the issue was; one navy blue woollen jersey, one pair of blue serge shorts, and one grey/blue flannel under shirt with naval square collar. For all seasons, he would be issued with a towel, a nightshift, and a set of P.T. (physical training) gear. This consisted of a white short sleeved vest with blue collar and cuffs, and a pair of navy blue shorts. In summer time, a black pair of swimming trunks would also be issued. All the items of linen were in duplicate, and in the case of the underwear, socks, towels and handkerchiefs, were changed twice per week, the other items such as night-shirts, at less frequent intervals. Jerseys and serge shorts were changed about every third or fourth week. The socks carried the identifying coloured rings for each Division. or dormitory, around the fold over part. No.One had two green rings, No.Two had two blue rings, No.Three had two red rings, and No.Four had two yellow rings. When the socks were worn, they had to be worn so that the coloured rings were visible at all times, i.e., socks were not to be allowed to fall down around one's ankles. No garters were issued, but it was up to each boy to make sure his socks stayed up! Usually string or elastic bands were used in this endeavour. All these items of personal clothing had a tape label sewn on to them with the boy's linen number stencilled on it. Linen numbers were quite important, and many of us could identify most of the other boys by their linen numbers, indeed, it became a sort of hobby, seeing how many boys we could correctly match to their linen numbers! There was a maximum of 208 boys in the school, and each of the Linen Ladies looked after 52 boys, darning socks, jerseys, and generally keeping the boys clothes in good repair. Sheets and pillow cases were also issued from the linen room, however, they were not issued to a specific boy, and were changed on a rotational basis, of one sheet, and one pillowcase per week per boy. Once a new boy had drawn his everyday clothes, he would then be taken to the clothing store at the rear of the gym. Here, he would be issued with his more durable clothes, plus his best blues, boots, daps, toothbrush and belt. The belt was one of those adjustable elastic type belts, about two inches wide, with a clasp on one end in the shape of a snake, one end of which hooked into an eye at the other end of the belt. The belts were blue, and had one's linen number stencilled on the inside face. Generally known as 'cricket belts' Boots and toothbrushes had one's linen number stamped into them with steel number stamps. Daps - sand shoes - had one's linen number stencilled across the toes in white paint. There could be no mistaking whose daps were whose! Best Blues were also drawn from
this store. They consisted of a complete, and almost authentic sailors
uniform. In fact, the only major difference between 'ours and theirs' I
ever detected after seeing old boys return for a visit from the Royal Navy
was the sleeves of the jumper. The 'real thing', as I saw it, had button
up cuffs on the sleeves. As in many things in the new environment, one soon learned to 'go with the flow.' In any case, it all added to the mystique and appeal of wearing an authentic sailor's uniform. The traditional sailor's collar with the three narrow stripes around the perimeter was worn directly under the jumper. This was held in place with tapes tied around the waist, and the collar pulled out to fit directly over the collar of the jumper. In winter, we wore our jerseys under the jumper, and in summer we wore a white flannel with a square neck band of navy blue. Once the striped collar was in place, a 'silk' was added. The silk consisted of a large square of black silk like material, folded diagonally and then into a strip about 1¼" wide and long enough to go round the wearer's neck. The silk was tied by blue tapes at the base of the 'V' formed by the jumper collar, with a prescribed amount - from memory, the width of three or four fingers - protruding from the bottom of the fixing point. On top of the silk, and in stark contrast to it, came the white lanyard. This also was passed around the neck, and underneath the main collar. The lanyard was adjusted with the slip knot provided until the slip knot was located almost at the base of the 'V' of the main collar. The end of the lanyard was then made into a loop with the end tucked inside and at the base of the collar. Boots were always worn with best blues, no matter what the occasion. The only exceptions being, House Boys, Orderlies, Choir Boys (on Sundays), and those individuals 'excused boots' for medical reasons. Boots, of course, had to be spotless and shiny. We used leather thong laces, and breaking them, or worse still, losing them - often stolen by someone who had either broken or lost theirs - was a major head ache, and one soon learned to have at least one spare boot lace available for such an emergency. Caps were of the flat top, regular 'fore and aft' navy issue. We had white hats in summer, and blue ones in winter. The white caps had to be 'Blanco'ed' to keep them white. 'Blanco' being the proprietary name for the white paste we used for this purpose. Last, but by no means least, was the cap band. This was a long piece of silk like material, about 3/4" wide, with 'B.T.S. FORMIDABLE' written on it in large, gold, block letters. The cap band had to be tied tightly around the rim of the cap, and tied in a bow. The bow had to be worn just over the left ear. Tying these bows was quite an art, which could involve many hours of painstaking work. Many boys went to great lengths to make them look presentable and 'shipshape'. Some boys could even wrap one of the old, silver threepenny pieces inside the centre of the knot to make it more symmetrical. The last item to be issued was a blue Burberry naval type raincoat, with belt. We only wore these when it was raining, or more likely on those occasions when we went to Bristol, and the weather looked like rain. They were not worn very often, we kept them in one of the Lower Road rooms, probably, the 'Tub Room' |