UNIFORMS 1947-1967
The straw hats of the late de la Mare era were discarded in favour of navy blue berets bearing the SMF (St. Margaret’s Folkestone) badge, though a few junior girls parents insisted on retaining the hats. Boarders wore white berets on Sundays.
The checked gingham summer dress had been standard uniform at the change-over, but other material was now becoming available and in their second year the Hassons decided to revert to stripes, not the inch-wide stripes of the de la Mare days, but much narrower ones which played tricks on the eyes when one ironed them. Some of us used to stare at the material to induce giddiness deliberately. There were white cuffs above the elbow, a white Peter Pan collar, below this a panel of horizontal stripes with three small buttons and a pocket beside it to keep a handkerchief in.
Juniors had ugly navy blue bloomers with elastic round the legs, and it was considered more elegant to keep ones handkerchief secured by this elastic than in the skirt pocket. Indeed, some of the bloomers had a pocket in them, which Jane Fulcher (1946-59) used as a depot for fatty bits of meat, for one was not allowed pudding until one had cleared the plate, and Jane also had a grateful dog who benefited later when she went home.
In the Michaelmas and Lent terms, the girls wore white shirts with navy skirts, cardigans and ties.
The SMF badge on beret and blazer was replaced by the new 1950 design but retained for some time on the white shirts worn for team matches.
At first the girls had welcomed the beret as an improvement on the unpopular hat, but the novelty soon wore off, and it was disliked by many, for it flattened one’s carefully tended hair-style. Day girls on the way home waited until out of view of the school before taking the beret off, hoping no-one would report them for being improperly dressed. It was manufactured with a small tag in the centre which a girl who did not wish to be regarded as a ‘goody-goody' removed immediately.
The most remarkable item of uniform was probably the cloak. We loved our hooded cloaks. They kept us warm and dry as we moved between the main building in Earl’s Avenue and the annexe across the road or round the corner to the New Hall for assembly or choir practice. Best of all was the rule that berets were not worn with cloaks.
In the gymnasium and on the sports field we wore ‘shorts which were really a short pleated divided skirt, very practical and quite attractive on a good pair of legs. The sleeves of the shirt were rolled up and we took pride in doing this neatly.
For tennis matches, white shorts replaced the navy ones in 1956, and a navy blouse with white sleeves and collar, displaying the new school badge, was introduced for hockey matches. From 1958 this badge was used for other games as well.
Immediately after the war it was difficult to obtain plain navy-blue swimming costumes, so the girls were allowed to wear assorted styles and colours, but by the summer of 1950 standard costumes were available and obligatory, with a white bathing cap.
