Wigan Album

What a lovely, happy photo, Tom. When you compare them with some, (not all), of the girls of that age today..... it was another world!

You are right Irene, back then girls looked like what they were, girls...The way so many girls dress these days, (especially over here, as only private schools wear uniforms),to be honest I can't think of a single nice word to describe them...

A carefree photo is a time gone & don't the girls look smart. I'm all for a school uniform of some sort. Surely it promotes a feeling of belonging & discipline....& it can't be said that its inhibits freedom. Take a look at what people wear to work these days, uniforms !

I always get a nice warm feeling when I see photos of this era, lovely photo of lovely happy days.

Spending some time with family in Perth WA we attended the Armistice Day ceremony at the War memorial yesterday. We were struck by the school children and young teenagers in their uniforms, unisex polo shirts, mainly worn with shorts although some had trousers, floppy hats all in school colours and not too dissimilar to the ones above, and in the main the young people were polite and friendly just as ours are at home. What did strike us was that they all sang the national anthem," Advance,Australia Fair" with confidence and enthusiasm. The last time we visited our ceremony in UK only us oldies joined in.
Also a point about the lovely ladies above they must have had parents willing and able to kit them out for their school. Most of my relatives of that period whose children passed the eleven plus could not afford to let them take up the school place. That said it is a lovely picture and a good record of its time.

Happy memories of walking with Notre Dame on Whit Monday in the fifties.The uniform was expensive and could only be purchased from one shop Henry Barrie in Manchester.They also came to school a couple of times a year when items could be purchased in the dining hall.My parents,as well as others struggled to provide it.

Notice the big hems - so the dress could be let down as the girl grew

RE the uniform... I remember we could only buy the uniform in one (very expensive shop) in central Manchester, oh how my Mum moaned about that!. ALSO we HAD to have very bit of clothing from the outfitters right down to our brown knickers and white gloves. Our full (including hat and gloves even on a hot day) uniform had to be worn at all time even when walking through town on the pain of detention. Um not sure if that wasn't carrying the school ethos a tad too far!
Anne Hall 1952-1958