Tufty was the forerunner of the Green X man.
You wasn't allowed to cycle to school unless you had passed your proficiency course and earned your badge.
Late evening riding courses and examination run by the Police.
There were no trainers, these slippers covered everything from PE to fotball.
Heavy swivel pencil boxes that held very few pencils.
Compasses and protractors, rubber, pencil sharpner and a ruler. A necessity for starting senior school.
Having to cycle to and from school in the dark we had to have lights. First we had Dynamo lights, but they went dim if you rode slow and off if you stopped.
The battery lights were far better, although the expensive batteries did not last long, nor did the small bulbs.
The matching rear lights often sprung apart as you hit a rut, bits were often lost or broken.
The most un-hygenic part of school, shared with hundreds of dirty hands.
Cause of many broken teeth, arms, legs, and bumps the size of eggs on your forehead.
a small booklet of baby pictures that you were expected yearly to sell them individually to family and friends.
Life before the Biro !
In the early years we filled the inkwells on our desk from a big oil can full of ink. But later on we had to carry our own around.
As we grew we were allowed to leave the pencil and change to our first Ink Pen. Very basic you just dipped it into the ink pot.
Gradually the quality and style of the pen we were given to use improved, with replacable nibs.
With school no longer supplying ink, basic cartridge pens arrived.
Everyone wanted a Parker Pen, the first had plungers or squeezable bladders inside used to fill from in bottle.
Carrying glass bottles of ink everywhere was not ideal or even safe, gradually the pens changed to using cartridges.
There was no calculators, we used the slide rule and tables.
I never quite mastered the slide rule, although i still have it till this day.
At the start of the 70's our school was one of first to use Accumulators in Maths.
I never enjoyed school meals, opting to take sandwiches instead, but I had to leave the school premises and go over the park in all weathers to eat them.
Teachers were over using slippers & canes. Punishment did not make respect, we respected the teachers who chose other methods more than the 'Swishers'.
The first reading books for many in Infant School.
Each with an individual theme, progressively harder depending on the number and letter.
Each month we would pay in to a school savings club. We also bought the next instalment of Knowledge which eventually grew into an encyclopaedia.
The most dreaded of all books, Logarythms, anti-logs, cosines, adding 2 and 2 and getting 4.0134671 an hour later.
We started off with a simple Plimsol Bag, and as more kit was needed used Duffle Bags.
With strap or without it, There was always too many books to fit inside.
THe more adult version of the Satchel, it did hold a little more.
Unable to afford fancy bags I had to make use of what was available. In my case it was an old Gas Mask Bag that belonged to my uncle and was plastered with names of 60's groups.
Sports Bags actually caused a class divide in schools, depending on you having the latest Puma, Adidas or Gola bag.
Some had names of football teams which further added to the problems.
