Uniform

Looking back, the articles of school uniform rate highly in the memory, in particular the requirement for indoor and outdoor shoes which were kept in a gingham shoe bag onto which we cross stitched our name. Regulation knickers were another mandatory item with thick heavy blue winter ones and white summer ones. Apparently, some girls wore the summer knickers under the winter ones as the dye from the winter knickers could run if they became hot but this was never something I experienced! Outerwear was a rather hideous gaberdine coat and I was always rather envious of those that had the summer panama hat, as I only had the maroon beret with a wide piece of elastic under my chin to keep it on. All purchased at Aitken and Niven which was then on George Street.

School uniform was a “must”. We had to wear our hats on all occasions even at sports events out at Liberton. One day I was on a tram going to school with a group of Royal High boys whom I knew very well. They stole my hat and I couldn’t get off the tram at Surgeons’ Hall. I had to go the whole way to Waverly Station where they got off and gave me back my hat.

I had decided that the penalty for being late, which I was, was less than the one for arriving at school without my hat.

Our older female teachers would wear a costume to work, namely a tweed skirt and matching jacket worn with a blouse often with a brooch at the neck. Hair was often in a bun. No swinging sixties there. Pupils however wore socks well into senior school and nylon stockings in the final years would be soaked in tea to make them as dark as possible. Hats were mandatory but worn as far back on the head as we could get away with.

The days at St Albans Road were happy… We wore box hats with the badge on the front and Panama hats with a maroon band with the badge in the summer time. There was also the option, I think, of a navy velour hat with the maroon band in the winter. We wore gym tunics with box pleats and a white shirt and school tie or a navy jersey with the school colours on the collar topped by a navy nap coat or rain coat in winter and pink or blue gingham dresses with a blazer in the summer. I’m just reflecting now that clothing coupons were enforced at that time during the war. Our poor mothers must have had to sacrifice their fashion wishes for their daughters’ uniform. We always carried our gas masks with us, and, of course, our school bags on our backs. My gas mask was a Mickey Mouse face. Donald Duck gas masks were also around. Thankfully we never had to wear them.