Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

If I ever get invited to one, I promise not to wear collar and tie!

It occurs to me that another good reason for wearing the broadie buckle-backwards was that those two curved metal prongs were actually pretty vicious and extended beyond the edges of the buckle itself, so ripping one's hand open accidentally would've been all too easy with the buckle facing forwards. Mind you, shoddy latter-day broadie buckles probably have plasticine prongs for Health & Safety reasons.

Actually, you've reminded me... Practically my first experience of CH (apart from the cosy ambrosia-filled richmal Compton-esque) experience of the entrance exam) was of a blood spattered day room where some new LE has eviscerated themselves trying to cut the slot in the belt for the t-bar at the back of the buckle.

All very amateurish and hopefully the design has been improved and pupils no longer have to self help so they risk slashing themselves (or in my case) making a horlicks of it and needing another belt.

It's a design I've never seen repeated - more than a few degrees out of true and the things fell off - and the metalwork teachers in the manual school were always mending the things.

I saw more than one substitute fashioned out of Kit Kat wrappers - but we were a sloppy bunch under Baker.

J.R. wrote:Now't wrong with the Daily Mail.

This is an interesting blog... http://tabloid-watch.blogspot.co.uk/

I did read that article at the time, and did have a lot of doubts about it !

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.

True - but they are girdles not belts! ... and why is it that, while Hertfordites may comment on boys' belts, we mere males would be taking our lives in our hands were we to comment on the positioning of Hertford girdles?

While Jonathan was at CH (05-07), he tried to institute a new fashion requiring broadies worn with buckles to the fore - it had some support at the time, but the aft placement seems once again to be totally dominant.

Incidentally, Jonathan has received his Blue - his opening comment was that the magazine should, in view of the colour banding, be henceforth known as "the Brown".

I received my copy today. And the first thing I noticed wasn't the way the buckles were worn etc etc, but the happy faces of the pupils. What a great photo.

Incidentally, do broadie buckles still have to be bought? In c. 1960, when new ones were first re-introduced after the war, they cost 30s. That would be about 30 pounds now. In those days, houses maintained a collection of second-hand ones of a bewildering variety of styles for those who didn't want to buy their own (or who, like me, just didn't like the look of the new ones). And some people had their father's.

As the editor of the Blue I was pleased to see that most think that the magazine portrays the school well. It remains what it has always been - a record of a year in the life of this busy school and Old Blue network. The quality of the artwork, design, poetry, prose, political writing, drama, music and much much more says a great deal about how successful the school is in 2013 (notwithstanding the odd muddy shoe etc). Sorry it took a while to arrive - it was ready in late December but for some reason it took ages to post!

Any more comments would be welcome - ps I do not want to read that I have missed a full stop on page 19, paragraph four!

It is good to see that Ian has focused on the magazine as a whole rather than just the position of the Broadie buckle as worn on the cover picture. We may all cavill at some detail (he refers to a missing full-stop and I have heard of an improper use of "it's" - thankfully not in a section we proofed!), but taken as a whole, we have a wonderful magazine of record. The seamless integration of the achievements of the whole CH community (including Old Blues) is a unique and altogether successful development. Ian and the school have a right to be justly proud of the result - it was a herculean effort with a magnificent result - well done!

Someone said above that: "The girdle is a fashion article (!) and always has been..."
That is not strictly correct. The Bluecoat uniform has included a girdle from the earliest days, but in Tudor times it had a utilitarian purpose since, in the absence of a pocket in the gown, it was necessary to carry accessories. These might have included: an ink-horn; a penne (writing implement); a gypciere (a small bag for knickknacks; i.e., a purse) and a muck-ender ( a cloth used for wiping nose and eyes). Such a device survives to this day in the Scottish sporran.
There is a contemporary illustration which suggests that in Tudor times the girdle may have been a cord secured with a bow-knot, but this soon changed to leather, secured with a metal buckle.
David

I was surprised to see the comments about the broadie buckle being at the rear, as I've never heard of it being otherwise!

I started in 1998 and it was like it then. As has already been said several times, the only people at the school who wear any kind of buckle at the front are 2nd formers. Then the 3rd form have the plain buckle at the rear, and the LE upwards have the broadie buckle at the rear. I also agree with Spoonbill about the sharpness of the buckle and the potential of injury therefrom. I had always assumed (apparently wrongly?) that these were the official uniform rules, as absolutely everyone followed this and I never saw anyone being told otherwise by any teachers, who would regularly tell pupils to pull their socks up, do their bands up or tuck their shirt in, but nothing ever to do with turning the buckle around.

So while the disappointed surprise may be understandable, it's certainly not a new thing with the yoof of today, it's pretty old news. I've certainly learnt something today about how everyone apparently used to wear it at the front.

DavebytheSea wrote:It is good to see that Ian has focused on the magazine as a whole rather than just the position of the Broadie buckle as worn on the cover picture. We may all cavill at some detail (he refers to a missing full-stop and I have heard of an improper use of "it's" - thankfully not in a section we proofed!), but taken as a whole, we have a wonderful magazine of record. The seamless integration of the achievements of the whole CH community (including Old Blues) is a unique and altogether successful development. Ian and the school have a right to be justly proud of the result - it was a herculean effort with a magnificent result - well done!

Hear Hear !

Shoes may or may not be dirty and broadies misplaced but I was impressed with the Lamb essays, particularly Rory Keddie's. I had to take his word on some of it though!

The runnners (sic) up were good too.

Well done to them all.