"The Blue 2012" - Oh Dear...

[jhopgood]

Living abroad I have to rely on the web edition of the Blue.
Does the printed front cover differ from the web edition?

[J.R.]

Living abroad I have to rely on the web edition of the Blue.
Does the printed front cover differ from the web edition?

Send me the direct link, and I'll check for you, John.

[John Knight]

John,
It is the third photograph of the home page slide show here:
http://www.christs-hospital.org.uk/
The one with the brollies and missing broadie buckles...
John...

[J.R.]

John,
It is the third photograph of the home page slide show here:
http://www.christs-hospital.org.uk/
The one with the brollies and missing broadie buckles...
John...

YUP ! That's the one !

[jhopgood]

It makes sense as it was the marchathon, which meant them marching around the quad, and it was raining.
Some were Old Blues.
I suppose it was easier not to keep putting up and taking down the umbrellas.

[sejintenej]

Nor John, would you have [sic] been allowed to write 'would never of' without severe punishment. A double detention I think.

Not at my age ! I'm exempt !

Jan and I were in Horsham a few weeks ago, and saw a couple in Housey dress.

The shoes were a disgrace ! I was going to 'have a word', but thought better of it !

I had to give a lecture to a party of grecians in and about the City some years ago. They were in civvies, apparently unwashed, hair not having seen a comb or brush in years and the clothes - right for a male version of a bag lady. A total disgrace
At least the next year they were in uniform.

[Foureyes]

BUCKLES AND BUTTONS
I know a little bit about this very complicated subject and studied it two years ago for my forthcoming book on Housie Dress Through the Ages - so what follows may be out-of-date in some respects.!! The authorities issue the girdles and the buckles but the pupils have evolved an unauthorised (and uncorrected) way of wearing them.
There are two girdles, as always.
The narrow girdle with built-in buckle is issued on arrival. It is worn with the buckle to the front for the entire first year. The band departing at the end of Beating the Retreat is the signal for the first years to switch their buckles to the rear.
The broadie girdle and buckle are issued by the school to all who reach the LE. The buckle is worn to the rear. Nobody seems to know how or when this started, but it appears to have originated about a decade or so ago, probably as a fad, but which was soon universally adopted.
Multiple broadie buckles may be worn if the wearer has had one handed down by a relative or governor. This appears to have no significance as to the wearer's status.
There are special buckles for the following:
1. House captain. Square frame in bright silvery metal (I believe this is bought from House funds).
2. Maths prizes.
3. Sports achievements.
4. There is also alleged to be a 'Sacristan's buckle' although nobody seems to have seen one.

Just to confuse Old Blues further, the way Grecians' buttons are worn has a special sigificance also:
A. Grecians buttons are awarded to school monitors in May for the forthcoming school year, and for academic achievement on an individual basis from September onwards.
B. School monitors wear all cuff buttons secured.
C. Academic Grecians leave the top button on each cuff undone.
D. Monitors who have also been awarded academic buttons wear one cuff with all buttons done up (as a monitor) with one button on the opposite cuff undone (as an academic).

Don't start me on shoulder plates, which seem to increase in number annually!

David

[John Knight]

Thank you David, very interesting...
What next? Perhaps squits will be wearing a pair of shoes on the wrong feet.
I love the uniform and am very proud of it.
I think the school should get a grip on how the uniform is worn and instill some discipline in this matter.

[MW224]

Hmmm....aren't the words 'horrified' and 'disgrace' perhaps a little bit too strong? My son's shoes do get checked and he does polish them (perhaps it varies from house to house). And as a mother of 3 boys it never fails to amaze me how they can leave the house looking immaculate but come back looking as if they ve been dragged through mud, gravel and dirt. Playing football with school shoes does not help either.
I believe it takes some doing for CH pupils to look disgraceful, not easily done with that uniform...

[dsmg]

I have just received my copy of 'The Blue - 2012'.
The cover photograph makes me think that the school is ashamed of the 'Broadie Buckle'.
Why is it being worn at the back?
Why does the school not enforce a proper dress code?
It really makes me angry... it is a nice buckle... and should be worn in the correct manner.
As I have said before.. "If you have to wear a uniform, wear it correctly"

Disagree. The girdle is a fashion article (!) and always has been. In the 70s it was worn as low as possible, except in the 2nd form (why was it called that if there wasn't a first form???) when you were told in no uncertain terms to ´get your girdle up, squit!`Fashion will always be a part of housey dress and there is nothing you can do to change it. Why do people wear baseball caps back to front or incredibly high heels or winkle pickers which deform your feet. Fashion.

[J.R.]

So it seems that YOB's and OB's will have to agree to differ on this matter of buckles.

I can only say that I agree with a training sergeant when I joined 'Plod'

"Dirty boots, (shoes), indicate a lethargic and indifferent officer which will not be tolerated in this force."

That was over 40 years ago and I can still hear those words.

Still, as us old-uns keep getting reminded by the youngsters......

"Times Change !"

Possibly they do, but certainly not for the better in my book !

[Fjgrogan]

I vaguely remember being told around the time of the merger that the higher up the school a boy was the lower he wore his belt, but as a mere Hertfordite what would I know. I only relay hearsay.

[bluegrunt]

Nevertheless, I'd still rather see dirty shoes than read "It would never of happened". Sorry. But, after all, this isn't the Daily Mail!

Now't wrong with the Daily Mail.

A good old fashioned right-wing newspaper.

Everything about the Daily Mail is wrong.
I agree with Goatherd.

[Atticus]

Dd is now on her 2nd tin of polish, and they do get checked in house, but I don't suppose they get polished weekly.

She got very excited about an electric polisher in a hotel lobby a few weeks ago when we visited relatives . Her dm's had a really high shine after a few minutes

[AKAP]

The concept that the CH uniform and how it is worn, is somehow frozen in time (according to posters here frozen as worn in the 1940's 1950's and 1960's) falls apart on any inspection of historic photographs.