I Remember When.......
Recalling Memories of My Childhood
U is for the UNIFORMS
Worn at various stages of my life.
I was proud to wear the uniform as a Brownie. I was in the Leprechaun Six, chanting the rhyme "We're the Irish Leprechaun, guiding strangers when forlorn" - (no I could not actually remember it, but Google supplied the answer!}
I moved up to Guides and was in the Scarlet Pimpernel Patrol which suited me very well as red was my favourite colour and I was in the Red House at school. We had a blue top worn with a navy skirt and again a folded tie.
Singing in a choir has long been one of my main interests, but there often arose the thorny question of what should we wear. It was decided that our long black skirts, white blouses of our own style and varying shades of whiteness worn with a chiffon scarf were not smart enough and we needed to up our game. The result was this formal outfit below - I was happy as jade green was one of my favourite colours. But what happened? No sooner had we all bought these, then amateur choirs starting adopting the more casual look of black trousers for women and self-coloured long sleeve blouses.
U is for the UNIFORMS
Worn at various stages of my life.
I was proud to wear the uniform as a Brownie. I was in the Leprechaun Six, chanting the rhyme "We're the Irish Leprechaun, guiding strangers when forlorn" - (no I could not actually remember it, but Google supplied the answer!}
The uniform involved a tunic brown dress with a folded yellow tie which (very practically minded) could become a bandage or a sling in an emergency,
I moved up to Guides and was in the Scarlet Pimpernel Patrol which suited me very well as red was my favourite colour and I was in the Red House at school. We had a blue top worn with a navy skirt and again a folded tie. Singing in a choir has long been one of my main interests, but there often arose the thorny question of what should we wear. It was decided that our long black skirts, white blouses of our own style and varying shades of whiteness worn with a chiffon scarf were not smart enough and we needed to up our game. The result was this formal outfit below - I was happy as jade green was one of my favourite colours. But what happened? No sooner had we all bought these, then amateur choirs starting adopting the more casual look of black trousers for women and self-coloured long sleeve blouses.
Onto my work in tourist information centres in the Scottish Borders - it was the 1980's when kilts were then a fashion statement, so for the first time at work I wore an attractive uniform - a kilt in the mid blue/green of the Douglas tartan. However kilts became too expensive as a uniform item, and we later had straight skirts - but still in tartan. Men on the staff were just given a tartan tie, so the women had the better deal.
But
as with brownies and guides, school and choirs, work uniform
fashions have changed and the trend now is very casual - polo shirts and
fleeces! I am glad I worked in earlier times in a uniform that made me feel smart and professional.
What UNIFORM did you have to wear?
Onto V for VILLAGE LIFE
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P - Poulton - My Ancestral Home + Poems, Pets, Penfriends, Politics and Protests
Q - The Queen's Coronation
Q - The Queen's Coronation
S - Speccy Four Eyes + School, Sports, Sundays, Student Days andthe Space RAce
T - Toys + Treats, TV, Theatre and Technology
T - Toys + Treats, TV, Theatre and Technology
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I was a brownine for a minute, but don't remember if I actually got one of the brown dresses and beanies. The only other uniform I had to wear was a smock when I worked in the "children's only shop" during the Christmas shopping season in a large department store for several years. It was red and 1 size just about fit all.
ReplyDeleteI love the prompt! I attended a private school through 5th grade and we had to wear a blue jumper over a crisp white shirt with peter pan collar. I hated going shopping after school because I felt like all the other kids were staring at me.
ReplyDeleteLots of memories I need to write down...
Molly @MyCozyBookNook
My Cozy Book Nook
Revising Life after 50
Hmmm uniforms...I must have worn the brown uniform but I was too little and had been sacked from Brownies I think by the time I was 8 or 9. We had an antiseptic green uniform at the school I went to for most of my life which I didn't really like.I kept buying the second hand uniforms at the uniform shop because they were a more flattering style rather than the new shapeless design they invented in the 70s which more closely resembled a tent. I am lucky that the uniform I wear to work is not too hideous and quite unobtrusive and relatively accommodating of my now distinctly matronly figure.
ReplyDeleteGood one. I loved wearing a uniform it made me feel a part of the group. I was in Brownies, Guides, Rangers. Then a guide and pathfinder for many years.
ReplyDeleteWe also had a uniform in svhool, I liked it because no one was better than anyone else and I didn't have to worry what to wear. In elementary it was a grey box bib jumber with white blouse. But grade 7 we could wear a Navy vee neck jumper.
In high school.it was a grey skirt and white blouse.