A suitable Dress for Girls

The philosophy of physical education taught at early twentieth century colleges—including Bedford Physical Training College—was based on the Swedish system of gymnastics devised by Pehr Henrik Ling (1776-1839). His method was described in the Syllabus of Physical Exercises for Elementary Schools, 1909. There is a copy in Bedford Campus Library 613.7071 GRE.

The Syllabus describes the exercises in detail, but also adds guidance on uniform suitable for PE and games. This same uniform was worn by Bedford Physical Training College. It consisted of a tunic, a jersey or blouse and knickers. Photographic evidence in the Bedford Physical Education Archive shows that students were wearing this uniform during a range of activities such as gymnastics, tennis and lacrosse. The uniform remained in use from the foundation of the College in 1903 until the late 1930s without any changes. From 1940 onwards less restrictive styles of clothing were introduced.

Bedford Library’s archive  holds examples of uniforms worn by students from the early 1900s through to the 1980s, an important source to study the uniform development through time.

Image: Syllabus of Physical Exercises for Schools 1909
'A suitable Dress for Girls'

Sophia Girls’ Team visit to Bedford Physical Training College, 1947

In 1946, the Ling Physical Education Association approached the Swedish Gymnastic Association with a request to elect the best women’s and the best men’s team to tour the British Isles.  Following a competition, the Sophia Girls’ Team and the Arbetarnas Men’s Team, coached by Maja Carlquist and Erik Lindén respectively, were selected to tour major cities in England, Scotland and Wales in October-November 1947 with a demonstration of Swedish Gymnastics.

This souvenir programme of their ten-date tour survives in the Bedford Physical Education Archive.  Although not part of the official programme, we know from photographs held in the Archive that the Sophia Girls’ Team visited Bedford Physical Training College to give a demonstration in the college gymnasium.
  
As a gymnastics educator, Maja Carlquist (1884-1968) based her system of gymnastics on those of Pehr Henrik Ling (1776-1839), a pioneer in the teaching of physical education whose ideas had formed the bedrock of gymnastics teaching at Bedford and other physical training colleges.  However, Carlquist then applied the principles of rhythm, the aim being the greatest possible effect with the least possible strain.  Difficult movements performed with ease, using energy achieved without tension, was characteristic of the demonstration performed by the Sophia Girls’ team.

The visit by the Sophia Girls’ Team is just one example of how teaching staff at Bedford were receptive to new ideas and challenges in the field of physical education.  Over the decades, Bedford played host to pioneering dancers, Olympic medallists, and pitted their 1st XII lacrosse team against international players.  All of which can be explored through souvenir programmes, photographs and reports held in the Archive.

Souvenir Programme for Swedish Gymnastics Association Tour of Britain, 1947

The Ouse-Zoo

The picture below, entitled “Book Checking?!” is from The Ouse-Zoo – a magazine published at the Bedford College of Physical Education in 1957.  The student magazine was a compilation of articles, poems and drawings that were submitted by students and published by the magazine.

Many of the pieces published were light-hearted, as you can tell from the picture, and often highlighted aspects of college life.   There were also more serious sports reports and an editorial commenting in this issue, of the dangers of television taking over and “Physical Education must produce glamour fine enough to rival TV!”

The magazine also gives an insight into life beyond the college in 1957. There are local advertisements from “cycle agents”, stationers, photographic supplies and specifically from J.A. Hague and Son Ltd, claiming to offer the largest selection of cricket and tennis equipment in the country, located on Bedford High Street.

The Ouse-Zoo is just one example of student magazines held in the Bedford Physical Education Archive which stretch back to 1922 and continued until 1966.  They offer a rich source for researching changing student preoccupations and humour over more than 40 years.

1.   

Book Checking ?!, 1957

Personal Reminiscence of Ida Hadley

This is part of a personal reminiscence of the earliest days of Bedford Physical Training College written by Ida Hadley in 1944.  Ida was amongst the first set of students who attended the College in 1903-1905.  This reminiscence, along with several others, was collected with the intention of being used to form “some record of the College from its beginning” and published after the end of the Second World War in 1945.  Although no such publication appeared in 1945, similar requests were made of former students in the 1970s and ultimately led to a series of oral histories collected and recorded by Sheila Fletcher as research material for Women First: The Female Tradition in English Physical Education 1880-1980 published in 1984.

Oral histories have been described as ‘the first kind of history’. They are the passing on of knowledge, memory and experience by word of mouth. Bedford Physical Education Archive holds the oral histories collected by Sheila Fletcher.  They are an important historical resource as they preserve a diverse range of personal experiences that generally are not well documented in written sources in the Archive. Their personal nature makes them a great primary source for people wanting to discover more about a certain era and what it was like to be a student or member of staff at the College, providing an insight into the impact events had on the people alive and involved.

Partial reminiscence of Ida Hadley, 1944

Ref: BPEA HRef 7/2/2

The Medical Room (circ 1920)

From the establishment of Bedford Physical Training College in 1903 through to 1945, students followed a curriculum geared to the needs of the gymnastics and games mistress that included the study of Massage and Remedial Gymnastics.  Students were entered for the examinations of the Chartered Society of Masseurs and Medical Gymnastics, a forerunner of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.  Following qualification, students were eligible (if they so wished) to practice therapeutic massage under the direction of a Registered Medical Practitioner rather than pursue a career in physical education.

The photograph shows the Medical Room where students practised treatments on voluntary patients drawn from the local community.  It is in a building that was the original College Gymnasium, which accounts for the presence of climbing bars on the walls and ropes hanging from the ceiling.  A new gymnasium was built in 1913-14 and the Medical Room became permanently established after this date.  

This photograph was taken sometime between 1914 and 1919 by P.A. Buchanan &Company from Croydon in Surrey.  Buchanan specialised in photographing schools, colleges and other institutions and turning the images into individual postcards and souvenir booklets.  We know that this particular photograph was part of a booklet originally containing 12 images showing the interior of several College rooms and buildings and was donated to the Archive by Ruth Montgomery of Set XIX (1920-1923).

It is interesting to note from studying photographs of the Medical Room taken in the 1920s through to the 1940s that its appearance hardly changed, even the ropes remained in place!

From BPEA HRef 7/1

BPEA HRef 7/1

Bedford Physical Training College Timetable 1910

This is the earliest surviving timetable and dates from 1910. It is interesting to see how busy their days were with very early starts at 08:30am. Actually, we know from an oral history interview with a student who attended the College in 1913 that the working day started at 7:15am in the Gymnasium with students practising the strength of the vocal commands. Morning lessons were on anatomy, physiology and gymnastics and games were mainly during the afternoons with hockey, lacrosse and netball in the winter or cricket and tennis in the summer. Swimming, fencing and dance were also part of the curriculum. Physiotherapy was an important element of the syllabus and included hands-on practicals with members of the public in the Gymnasium which was converted into a temporary medical room.  

Aside from extending the course of study from two to three years in 1917, the curriculum remained relatively unchanged until the late-1940s.  Thereafter, change becomes evident as educational institutions respond to government initiatives in the 1940s, 1960s and 1970s to reorganise and improve teacher training.

Timetables, syllabuses, regulations and examination schemes held in the Bedford Physical Education Archive are an informative source for the study of curriculum development in physical education studies in the twentieth century.

Timetable, 1910-1912
Ref. BPEA CURR 3/1

Untitled hand-painted programme: Cicely Read 1922

This hand-drawn and painted programme was created in 1922 by one of the college’s teaching staff, Cicely Read. Miss Read had been a student of the college herself and returned as a teacher in 1918; her name can be seen on the bottom left of the programme cover. Although the title remains a mystery we do know that it represented one of the ‘Entertainments’ that were an extracurricular part of college life throughout the 1920s and 30s, and the programmes were produced and decorated by hand.

‘Entertainments’ were not for public performances but were laid on either for Old Students during Holiday Week or (in the case of this programme) as light-hearted fun for the college. The college curriculum did not include Drama as a taught subject until the 1950s; indeed the students followed a rigorous timetable which left little time for leisure activities. We can surmise from the attention to detail present in the hand-drawn programmes that the students embraced the opportunity to perform these entertainments.

Reviewing the types of plays that were performed gives us an idea of the trends in popular entertainment of the time. Performances varied between recreations of existing plays and re-telling of traditional popular tales, to self-penned pieces, often parodying life in the college and serving as an insight into the characters and events of the day.

Untitled programme (1922)
Ref: BPEA  SOC 3/1/1