Three terms at Uplands

The theme in a way of this post might as well be "You're always a gurl" no least for the things that remain from that period not least the story books I still have of which this 1970 copy is an original.

I don't know about you but there always was one child in the form who it always seemed  to be the one who in trouble, not that I was angelic, and this book is about a girl, Claire Johnstone, who is although as in my experience too there is real trouble-maker behind  it all, in this case Ethel, who just leaves poor old Claire to take the blame.

Claire is fortunate to get a scholarship to Uplands, a large boarding school who sees this a chance to start anew with a clean slate until she finds there is a another new girl -Ethel!

It isn't long before Claire is back in trouble again all because Ethel thinks the Juniors are getting a raw deal from the Prefects.

We had Head Girls and Boys but basically you had certain amount power over your fellow pupils as Prefect and extra duties which didn't always go down so well with folk.

Anyway, Ethel wants Pupil Power and the Juniors soon find themselves members of Ethel's Students Union, an action anywhere in a school I went of putting you on the wrong side of Adult Authority, rebelling.

Skirt length options

As the blog of a feminine gurl you would expect and there has been a few posts around one aspect that makes me different: The Way I feel comfortable about presenting as that gurl

I won't beat about the bush so will say I do love to wear skirts and dresses, not to the exclusion of short trousers as a feminine little gurl but definitely against any sort of long trousers.

Usually I have stuck to hems just a little above the knee, especially in things like school skirts but I have other tastes too.

A Good Gurl always makes the most of hur assets.

This is more the kind of short skirt I like

Usually worn with over the knee socks or tights in a casual but stylish way.

At 14

Hi and welcome to a new exciting entry in my blog, which has going for a fair while now.
It took me me a bit of time to learn about  how to lay out an entry using the tools blogger  provides, captioning my entries as well as the discipline of making the entries on something like regular basis.

This is an slightly older me looking just about 14 very much as I recall it, older bit still very much presenting in school then as a boy sat at the desk looking smart in uniform.

At 14 We started studying for our 16+ exams  having decided with our teachers and parents what options for study subjects we were going to be taking although within reason they could be changed afterward.

I majored on the Humanities, studying Religious Education, Geography, History as well of English language, English Literature, Maths, Government and Politics and combined Science.I also took as a study only subject Geometric and Engineering Drawing, learning to draw in three dimensions as well as Craftwork, where I learned about enamelling, basic woodwork and made craft items from fabrics, card and glue.

Naturally being my school we still continued to play team games  such as Rounders as well as taking swimming lessons. 

In my head I still felt 12 however even though perhaps compared to today's youngsters we were less overtly grown up for not having the same push on branded fashion and sexuality.

I preferred shorts to longs, an uphill battle at boarding school in that era as that was what i felt most comfortable in although I did during this period try on skirts during recess and would of loved to of worn something like this.

I was just working on being sissy me.

Gordon The Gopher

During the decade I crossed from being a teenage child to be an adult but still very much that child many of the constants was children's tv specifically Children's BBC as it was then transmitted mainly on BBC1.

Things had moved from having a simple graphic image up with the continuity announcing saying "and now at Twenty to Five it's time for Blue Peter" to having a live show that did all of that with interactions that was referred to as the BBC Broom Cupboard and the first to front that was Philip Schofield.

Being children's tv you'd have drawings, competitions but something that it starred was a talking puppet.

Gordon the Gopher became almost as much as star of the show as Philip adding his comments, interviewing people and so on until Andy Crane took over and brought in Edd the Duck in 1989.

Gordon wasn't out of a job then, he moved with Philip to the must see Saturday Morning show Going Live.

Gophermania was rife and this is actually my Gopher I bought back then carrying him in my arms who had a squeaker so he cold "talk" although naturally you could use ventriloquism too to make him speak. 

I still have him.

That was Gordon in a jacket designed by Adam Ant in 1990.

A Princess at the School & The Manor House School

As you may of gathered I do rather like reading and these are two books I've had since childhood.

These are editions from 1970 although they were reprinted by Armada across that decade as I read them at boarding school during that era.

The Manor House School is about a Eleven and Twelve year old girls Cicely and Lindsay who arrive in the Summer Term who find a secret room, hear some voices which leads to a mystery involving a missing fortune which leads them to discover the mystery of Winterburn Manor.

The Princess at the School (originally of the school), written in 1920, is a story of Ingleton children who having been orphaned and their home, Cheverley Chase, has been left to a young cousin who nobody seems to have been met.

Upon meeting cousin Carmel, the children make it plain she isn't welcome but her friendly nature eventually wins them over so while  they lost their original home it seems they've found a new friend.

Stories like that always were a part of my life I enjoyed and while having kept them, I do enjoy revisiting them from time to time.