for the WW

Do you even know what that is? I didn’t until fairly recently – they had gone out of fashion before the second world war I believe, and yet I discovered, to my eternal chagrin that I was made to wear one when I first started school.

Let me explain. Winter 1958 was cold. My mother was Polish and felt the cold very keenly. She was not going to let me suffer the way she saw other children suffer on their way to school. All the little boys in short shorts, long bedraggled sock and bright red knees. Same for the girls. Little skirts, long white socks, and even brighter red or blue or purple knees.

Not for my mother’s daughter. No. Her little girl was going to school with warm tights. Now, tights for adults had not yet been invented – ladies wore stockings and suspender belts, leaving a cold stretch of thigh at the top, but they had nothing better. My mother didn’t wear trousers, but thick woolly jumpers kept her cosy. But she wanted me to be warm too. For whatever reason, she could not get me any warm tights that first winter in school. So I wore thick warm stockings, held up by suspender clips which were attached to a thick, stiff, ridged cotton vest – a liberty bodice. It was so uncomfortable. But I knew better than to say.

Except after the first PE lesson that we had, in the cold hall of Avonmore school; we all had to change or more accurately get out of our day clothes and remain in our vests and knickers. I tried. I had a vest on under my liberty bodice. But when I took off my dress everybody laughed at my stockings and suspenders. I managed to take off the stockings. but the suspenders were beyond me, a somewhat clumsy five year old.

They just dangled.

Horriby. Embarrassingly.

I seem to remember the teacher exclaiming she had never seen such a thing before. She did help me though.

I must have told my mother, because I don’t think she dressed me in this garment again. Thank goodness.

Thenceforward my knees too became red and blue and purple depending on the vagaries of the weather.

There’s a very good wikipedia article about these. Some had buttons on the bottom, as did mine, to attach the suspender clips!!