So much has changed over the years despite the fact it feels like I only left secondary school a few years ago (and I’m sure I am not the only one). Here are just some of the tell-tale signs of someone who went to school in the city in the 80s and 90s – how many of these do you remember?
1. The 16 things only those children who went to school in the 1980s and 90s will remember
How many of these do you remember? Photo: Kelly Brown
2. Girls V Boys - or both
The 80s and 90s were the only two complete decades where it was possible to go to an all-girls (pictured) or all-boys secondary school in the city. School places were very precious in the city, not least because there were not enough secondary school places within Portsmouth itself until after the city council became a unitary authority in 1997. But the choice - assuming you had one - was a mixed school or either the City Girls School, which became the mixed Portsmouth Academy in 2017, or City Boys which became the mixed Trafalgar School we know today in 2015. Needless to say school rivalry was alive and well between the city schools - I'll keep my own allegiances hidden for now! Photo: Google Images
3. Nappy nights at 5th avenue nightclub
Who else remembers those nappy nights at 5th Avenue nightclub in South Parade in Southsea? Pictured here in 1993 the nightclub offered special clubbing nights midweek for teenagers aged between 14 and 18. As we know 5th then later became Time and Envy - a popular destination for those who were once in those nappies there - who will remember walking across the Esplanade at the end of a night to grab a taxi home. How things have changed along what was Pompey's clubbing area! Photo: The News
4. Using a fountain pen
Remember going to WH Smith or Woollies every September to get a new fountain pen? I think it is fair to say we were the last generation to use, and be encouraged to use, a fountain pen at school. Why? well ballpoint pens are now so cheap and in abundance and let's face it those cartridges did leak over our hands and into our pencil cases. Bit still, I do miss the nostalgia of it! Photo: s