It is quite obvious from the large number of messages from women who identify with our Scottish traditions that this forum is very popular among the various clans.

It is proof positive that there is more to being Scottish than eating Haggis and being married in the backyard just so the chickens can have the rice.

No there is more to being Scottish than this. It is about respecting our proud heritage and not abandoning our sacred beliefs. I therefore salute all those bonnie wee lassies out there without whose tireless devotion and contributions this forum would be in more hot water than the proverbial Scotsman's teabag.

So I wish you all a merry Hootsman and I raise a glass of Johnny Walker so we can all take a wee sip and reflect on our wonderful heritage.

A blend rather than a single malt? From someone who claims to be Scottish?

Which serves to prove that he/she is yet another off-topic 'fun' poster. Ignore the troll, and it will go and pester elesewhere.

Hi Alan Turing. Even if 'Emily' knows what a single malt is he probably has ice and lemonade with it.

Yuk! According to a real Scottish gentleman I once knew, "Water, laddie, just a little water!"

Absolutely correct, Alan Turing. Not that I partake of the malt ye ken, though I can claim affiliation to one of the senior clans.

As someone with absolutely no Scottish heritage, I'm sure I read of a troll who lost the right to a Scottish passport for drinking Whisky and coke. This shocking state of affairs came to pass because his clan had failed in their sacred duty to deal with such a matter immediately using the ancient tradition of the Lochgelly.....In mitigation it was pleaded the spirit in question was actually ....Kentucky Straight.....

I think I can safely say that on behalf of all the members of this very exclusive forum we welcome our many Scottish contributors and pay tribute to their invaluable contributions to this forum.

I also wish to thank all our non-Scottish contributors.

(Apart, that is, from those who pose as Scottish ladies when their lack of knowledge of Scottish traditions gives them away.)

Alan Turing very wisely said:

I also wish to thank all our non-Scottish contributors.

(Apart, that is, from those who pose as Scottish ladies when their lack of knowledge of Scottish traditions gives them away.)

To the above exclusion I'd like to add the too numerous to list 'ladies' who went to 'exclusive' Scottish or Yorkshire boarding schools where just about everyone from the first form up spent their time smacking thighs or applying McRostie tawses to (sometimes electrically powered) knickers.

Unfortunately, our Scottish "sisterhood" have as much connection with the Highlands & Islands as the pseudonym I used at work.

McCook, you might think, should have its' own tartan.

As it does, but it's an IRISH surname, and an Irish tartan to boot.

Why anybody would want to boot a harmless tartan is beyond me, when there are numerous trolls to use the interactive Doctor Marten's on!

And, incidentally, most of the UK's exclusive girl's school are in England, but there you go. They obviously didn't major in geography in these exclusive Caledonian fantasies, sorry fastnesses.


Steve M

Being an expat from the British Isles and working for a very large foreign bank in Japan means that a lot of my coworkers are indeed Scottish.

It seems that this forum has gained a small cult following among ex pats but so far I am the only girl who has had the courage to post messages.

However I can tell you that all my girl friends find the accounts describing Scottish school life in the 1970s and 1980s rather amusing. Some are accurate and some are exaggerated but all are good fun. Keep up the good work ladies.

I think I can say without contradiction that every member of this forum and the overwhelming majority of the population of the UK extend their best wishes to Miss Nagano and all her colleagues in the land of the rising sun.

We wish you good luck and congratulate you all on your diligence and hope to read many more of your excellent and informative messages.

I try not to ask about this sort of thing these days because I am very conscious of the tremendous load on the Management Team of this estimable Forum, what with limited numbers and the huge volume of posts.

However, if anyone can possibly spare a moment would it be possible please to have a look and see if Miss Nagano is indeed posting from Japan or if Ms McPherson is talking to herself?

Miss Nagano, or 'Keith' as he is known here in Sussex, is posting from Nagano.

Jimmy McPherson/Amanda/Sally/Miss UK 1979 is somewhere in the United Kingdom. The Posting Tracker suggests Basildon (there are pictures on this Forum of people signing up there for slimming clubs) but you cannot rely on the Posting Tracker nowadays.

Thank you R.G. Tracker. I am indebted to you for a very prompt and comprehensive reply. It is good to know that in these credit crunched globally warmed times the Management of this estimable Forum is in such safe and capable hands.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all our expats currently living in Japan to this very exclusive forum.

It is good to read the very informative and erudite messages from Miss Nagano who is obviously a young woman of great integrity and insight.

It seems that this forum is becoming a very cosmopolitan venue where some very highly educated and responsible young ladies are able to express their views.
I congratulate all of you and wish you all the best in your respective careers. Good bye for now

The Countess Von Tawse

I remember reading a posting some time ago about discipline in Scottish Ladies Academies. Does anybody know anything about this?

I believe that there were only mild forms of c.p at these academies up until about 1990 when all forms of c.p were abolished.

Interesting links, American Way. A few paragraphs from the TES link simply have to be quoted directly:

Punishment books in approved schools did not reflect the actual number of beatings or that some pupils were held down, Mr Paterson wrote. He urged ministers to bring in an immediate ban on belting on the buttocks which he described as "vicious in the realm of punishment or of attitude". It also had sexual undertones.

Heads and managers largely defended continued beatings. The head of St Andrew's School, Rhu, said corporal punishment "should be to the eventual benefit of the boy". In 1967, 28 boys were belted for violence towards each other and 38 for insolence.

Thirteen absconders enjoyed the benefits of the tawse. "In each of these, the application of corporal punishment was meant as a therapeutic aid," the head said.

So there we have it. Being held down and beaten on the buttocks with a tawse is theraputic. And this was in 1968, so that Head was years ahead of the recent Russian discovery that being caned is good for your health.

During the late 1970s in many of the Scottish Ladies Academies there was relatively mild forms of corporal punishment such as tawsing, but only over knickers with the McRostie.

These were usually administered by the senior prefects in the privacy of their respective studies. However this was phased out in the early 1980s.

I do not believe that the tawse was used at these Scottish Ladies Academies. I know quite a few women that attended these institutions in the 1970s and 1980s and the only person who was allowed to administer corporal punishment was the senior mistress.

This usually consisted of a few open handed slaps across the clothed bottom in the privacy of her study. For more serious cases the skirt could be lifted but no implements were used. Although not official policy it was more or less accepted.Most girls went along with it and never said anything about it to anybody.

Some of my fellow workers of Scottish extraction, here in Japan were very amused to read the posting from Miss Lesbos concerning the corporal punishment of girls at Scottish Ladies Academies.

I do not think that Miss Lesbos appreciates the fact that these academies were not schools but the equivalent of college more or less.

As such there was no corporal punishment of women at these academies.

Admittedly there was plenty of corporal punishment of girls in the all girls schools during the 1970s and 1980s even in the senior years, but this did not carry over to the colleges. I have a lot of friends who can testify to this.

While I agree with Miss Nagano that officially there was no corporal punishment at these academies, unofficially who knew what went on behind closed doors?

I remember reading a posting from Declan some time ago in which it was stated categorically that a senior girl who was not even a prefect was able to administer a fairly respectable leg smacking to another girl in the class without any repercussions whatsoever.

If this could happen surely an official teacher would be able to at least smack a girl across the bottom with nobody being any the wiser.

'Amelia'

Just to get the record straight. I did witness a girl slapping the leg of another girl in class once. This was because she thought the girl was bending over too much and exposing too much thigh. They were both the same age and the girl was not being punished as such.

I'm posting this (TES) link referred to yesterday again for the benefit of those who haven't seen it. I wonder if anyone within the UK or for that matter Europe if they had they had their druthers would who have continued the use and would it be Scotland? Would they be excommunicated from the so called Civilized World Community if they restored it? From the American Way on our day when we celebrate our independence from the so called Civilized World Community. Don't all at once wish me a Happy Fourth of July.

http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=316269

My sincerest apologies to Declan. I must have misunderstood your original posting. Never the less it proves the point that sometimes unofficial "punishments" can get under the radar.

I am not sure if the incident that Declan described was actually during a class with the teacher present in the room or not, or if the teacher actually witnessed the incident.

Also I am not sure if there was an official policy on corporal punishment of girls in your school at the time. I am just wondering if a female teacher had smacked that girl instead of a student in the same situation would there have been any repercussions concerning the female teacher?

Amelia

The leg smacking incident must have taken place between lessons. I don't think a teacher was present. I doubt very much if a teacher would have smacked her, she wasn't doing anything wrong. Girls were never smacked or slippered in front of the class, at least not in front of boys.

There was another smacking incident though. This was during a biology lesson and one girl , in tight mini skirt, was bending right over a desk looking at some experiment I assume, and another girl gave her a very hard smack on her bottom. She jumped up and squealed prompting the teacher to give a telling off to the girl who handed out the smack.The girl often used to smack other girls on the bottom, but this one was by far the best.

Hi Declan

Thank you for your response. It seems that the only smacking of girls at your school was by other girls. It does not seem that your school was really very strict. Were girls ever punished at all? It seems that they could get away with quite a bit of misbehavior in class.