News - Articles

BN in the Daily Express

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:14:42 +0000

Check out today's Daily Express for an interview with BN Member Emma Stokes

http://www.express.c...y-of-baring-all

Press Release: New Year, new nudists

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:16:31 +0000

Naturism in the 21st century is being increasingly driven by the internet, thanks to social media such as Facebook and Twitter and niche websites such as Naked Vegan Cooking (www.nakedvegancooking.com)

This phenomenon is explored in a documentary called ‘My Daughter, the Teenage Nudist’ to be broadcast on Thursday January 12.

British Naturism are delighted to have been fully involved with this excellent film. We worked closely throughout 2011 with ZKK, the production company, helping them to find people and places to show how social nudity is becoming much more common - even if in a more casual way - and amongst younger people.

BN’s commercial manager, Andrew Welch, said: “We were happy to help out with a film that really gives an insight into the new naturist world. Social nudity is not just for people of a certain age group and young people like the stars of this film, Molly, Alex and Daryl, are taking it to places where traditional naturism has rarely been and challenging conventional thought.

“Our recent survey, conducted for us by Ipsos Mori, showed that around 3.7 million people in the United Kingdom consider themselves to be naturists.

‘My Daughter, the Teenage Nudist’ goes out on Channel 4 at 10pm on Thursday January 12.

Mollie, Alex and Daryl are all available for interview

- ENDS -

Contacts:

BN Commercial Manager

Andrew Welch: Tel - 01753 481527/07774 955138

commercial.manager@bn.org.uk

Notes for Editors

British Naturism (BN) is the UK’s officially recognised naturist organisation. It exists to support and unite naturists around the UK and will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2014, although its predecessors were in existence since the 1930s.
A survey conducted in the autumn of 2011 by Ipsos Mori shows that there are 3.7 million naturists in the UK
Amongst the aims of BN are to campaign for more places to be made available for naturism and to protect naturists against discrimination and Victorian attitudes to the human body.
Fact – in law, there is no offence of nudity. Various pieces of legislation and common law are often mentioned in connection with naturism but they are not relevant.
In the UK, there are over 130 sun clubs, swim clubs and holiday resorts and many “officially designated” naturist beaches, with many others used regularly by naturists. Membership of BN is around 10,500 people with many more being members of clubs affiliated to BN. There are also thousands of UK naturists who enjoy holidays and beaches in the UK and abroad without being members of recognised naturist organisations.
YBN (Young British Naturists) has a membership of young men and women between the ages of 18 and 30 who get together at clubs and beaches many weekends. They represent the UK at the International Naturist Federation (INF) Youth Rally held annually
Naturism is good for you. Naturists report improvements in well-being, stress, chronic illness, self-esteem and body image. It’s also a sensible choice of dress when the weather is warm. Naturists are normal people. The only difference between activities inside and outside of naturism is the dress code.
It is a fallacy to believe that naked children are any more at risk of abuse in a naturist environment. In addition, unaccompanied children are not permitted in naturist places and the community spirit that pervades ensures that a watchful eye is present. Despite the perception, there are far fewer problems in naturism than in more “public” places where children and adults mix. Mindful of the need to be aware of child safeguarding issues, however, BN have a robust child safeguarding policy, code of practice, and a Child Safeguarding sub-committee that meets regularly and runs workshops on the subject, sometimes to groups from outside the naturist world.
For the media, there is a dedicated “Media Centre” at www.bn.org.uk/index.php/mediacentre, which contains useful information for those wishing to write about naturism or to feature this wonderful world in their publications or programmes

Nearly 4 million naturists in the UK

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:22:19 +0000

Ten years ago BN employed GfK NOP to conduct a poll to find out what people’s attitudes really were and how many naturists there really are. That information has been invaluable to support our campaigning work but it was getting too old to be useful. We decided to engage Ipsos MORI to repeat the exercise.

The survey was conducted during 23rd – 29th September 2011 via Capibus, Ipsos-MORI’s weekly face-to-face in-home interviews, using computer laptops. Ipsos MORI uses a form of random location sampling and 159 different sampling points were used. The sample comprised of 2,033 respondents aged 15 or over. It is interesting to compare how the numbers have changed but it can’t tell us how things are changing now. The time interval, over ten years, is too large for that. Questions and methods have changed so some care is required when making comparisons.

A lot of work is going to be needed to analyse these results properly but I can provide a summary:

Q1. Experience of Naturism
The differences compared to 2001 have altered a little. A lower percentage of people have experienced nude sunbathing (10% in 2011 compared to 14% in 2001) or swimming (22% in 2011 compared to 24% in 2001) but a higher percentage have been to a British clothes-optional beach, resort or club (10% in 2011 compared to 7% in 2001). The figures are arguably a lot higher than many people would believe. It may only be one person in ten (10%) that has been to a naturist beach, resort or club in the United Kingdom but more than one in ten (12%) has been to a foreign naturist beach, one in ten (10%) has sunbathed nude and one in five (22%) has swum nude.

Q2. Opinion of naturists
The wording of this question was changed, on the advice of the polling company, but some loose comparisons can be made. Just over eight in ten people (82%) state that naturists are harmless, 5% say that they are sensible. Fewer than one in ten (9%) thinks that we are disgusting and only one in a hundred (1%) considers naturists to be criminal. That is similar to 2001 when 2% said “criminal” and 7% “disgusting”.

Q3. Encountering naturists on the beach
Around the same percentage (1%) would go naked themselves and more (5%) would be alarmed and keep well away than was the case ten years ago (2%) but the changes are small. Only one in a hundred (1%) would call the police.

Q4. Suitability of places for Naturism
There have been large changes for the worse. The proportion of the population stating that naturism should be legal in back gardens (38% in 2011, 66% in 2001), at certain times in public swimming pools (10% 2011 vs. 35% 2001), quiet areas of public parks (5% in 2011 vs. 10% in 2001), and designated areas (42% in 2011 vs. 69% in 2001) have all fallen considerably.

Q5. Are you a naturist or nudist?
6% of the people in the UK consider themselves to be a naturist or nudist. That is almost one person in 17. To put it another way, on the average 50-seater coach you would expect to find three people who consider themselves to be a naturist or nudist. In 2010, the population of the UK was about 62 million so there are now roughly 3.7 million naturists in the UK. We can honestly say that there are nearly four million naturists in the UK, a big increase compared to ten years ago. The percentage of naturists in 2001 was 2%, compared to 4% in 2005, with 2% considering themselves nudists.

Society is becoming more polarised. There are many more naturists but a lot fewer people are happy for naturism to be practised in public places. Both of those changes were expected but we did not expect them to be so large. Unfortunately, despite naturism becoming a lot more popular and despite considerable progress on the legal front, the prudification of society is becoming a serious problem.

Malcolm Boura

Dame Helen Mirren named "Naturist of the Ye...

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:14:39 +0000

British Naturism, the UK’s internationally recognised body for organised naturism, has awarded leading British actress, Dame Helen Mirren, the title of “Naturist of the Year”. Miss Mirren was presented with an engraved rose bowl to mark the award. Dame Helen was selected from a number of well-known celebrities who have made their love of a naturist lifestyle public.

Mick Ayers, Chairman of British Naturism, said:
“Naturism in this country is thriving and there are hundreds of thousands of UK people enjoying naturist beaches, clubs, swims and resorts, both here and abroad and yet it is often portrayed as an eccentric activity pursued by a tiny minority. So, when one of Britain’s best loved and successful actresses is happy to talk openly about her love of naturism, it helps our cause no end. I am delighted that we have been able to say thanks, by making this award.”

Dame Helen Mirren said:
“Many thanks to British Naturism for this great honour. I do believe in naturism and am my happiest on a nude beach with people of all ages and races!”

Date: June 2004

My Daughter the Teenage Nudist

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 10:16:57 +0000

Mollie and Alex are part of a growing group of teens and twentysomethings who are embracing the world of public nudity - a contemporary phenomenon that's been driven by Facebook as well as niche websites like The Naked Tea Party. They are on a quest to normalise nudity, question the media's obsession with the body beautiful, and encourage other young people to liberate themselves by simply going naked - in the streets, cafés or at art shows. The new nudists are keen to take the nudist lifestyle beyond the old fashioned naturist clubs. So why is this pastime increasing in popularity and what do the parents think about their child revealing all in the most public of places?

British Naturism are delighted to have been fully involved in this excellent film. We worked closely with production company ZKK over the Summer of 2011, helping them to find people and places. The documentary shows how attitudes to social and public nudity are changing, especially among younger people, who are finding it fun and enjoying the sense of freedom going without clothes brings and challenging the validity of cultural norms.

So, forget your hang-ups, forget what you mother said about "modesty" and treat yourself to a better life. There's a wonderful world of regular nudity out there just waiting for you - with events, holidays, online communities, magazines and more.

Watch again here on 4OD until 12 Feb: http://www.channel4....nage-nudist/4od

Come and join us, you have nothing to lose but your clothes - and everything to gain: membership information and online joining details.

Find Out More

or get in touch with with us either at commercial.manager@bn.org.uk or 0845 474 3695 (BT 4p/min)

New Website Launched for 2012

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 11:32:44 +0000

Welcome to our new website for 2012.

Our new website, shop and members' community, have all been redesigned for 2012 to provide a new focal point both for BN members and everyone who is interested to find out more about Naturism. There are a number of areas of the site which have yet to be moved over to our new format but we will continue to work on these and further improve the new areas over the coming weeks.

If you have any comments or feedback on the new site then please use the contact us link at the bottom of every page.

A Nude Year's Resolution to Get Fit

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:50:46 +0000

30 December 2011

Where will you be?

The second Great British Skinny Dip event - organised by British Naturism, the UK’s national naturist organisation, takes place during January and February 2012 with a variety of naturist swim locations offering half price entry to newcomers.

Millions of people around the country will be making New Year's resolutions to get fit after the excesses of the festive season and often also to try something new. The Great British Skinny Dip manages both in one go.

British Naturism's Commercial Manager, Andrew Welch said:

“There is nothing quite so liberating and life-affirming as swimming without clothes with the wonderful sensation of the water over your whole body. Millions of people around the world have discovered the joys of skinny-dipping and we want to provide an easy opportunity for many others to give it a go – and find out what they are missing. “Social nudity” is on the increase as people are far less hung up these days about seeing or being seen naked by friends and family and are realising the benefits it brings to mental, emotional and physical health, body image issues, and their ability to relax and escape the rigours of daily life."

Media attendance at many of the events is welcome. Please contact us for further information and assistance or make direct contact – details for each venue are to be found on the Great British Skinny Dip website

- ENDS -

Contacts:
BN Commercial Manager
Andrew Welch 01753 481527
07774 955138
commercial.manager@bn.org.uk

Notes for Editors

British Naturism (BN) is the UK’s officially recognised naturist organisation. It exists to support and unite naturists around the UK and will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2014, although its predecessors have been in existence since the 1930s.
A survey conducted in the autumn of 2011 by Ipsos Mori shows that there are 3.7 million naturists in the UK
Amongst the aims of BN are to campaign for more places to be made available for naturism and to protect naturists against discrimination and Victorian attitudes to the human body. For the full list of our aims see here. In May 2010 we launched a Three Year Plan providing a framework for all of our work and services to naturists everywhere.
Fact – in law, there is no offence of nudity. Various pieces of legislation and common law are often mentioned in connection with naturism but they are not relevant.
In the UK, there are over 130 sun clubs, swim clubs and holiday resorts and many “officially designated” naturist beaches, with many others used regularly by naturists. Membership of BN is around 10,500 people with many more being members of clubs affiliated to BN. There are also thousands of UK naturists who enjoy holidays and beaches in the UK and abroad without being members of recognised naturist organisations.
YBN (Young British Naturists) has a membership of young men and women between the ages of 18 and 30 who get together at clubs and beaches many weekends. They represent the UK at the International Naturist Federation (INF) Youth Rally held annually – see our YBN pages for more details.
Naturism is good for you. Naturists report improvements in well-being, stress, chronic illness, self-esteem and body image. It’s also a sensible choice of dress when the weather is warm. Naturists are normal people. The only difference between activities inside and outside of naturism is the dress code. See FAQs about naturism.
It is a fallacy to believe that naked children are any more at risk of abuse in a naturist environment. In addition, unaccompanied children are not permitted in naturist places and the community spirit that pervades ensures that a watchful eye is present. Despite the perception, there are far fewer problems in naturism than in more “public” places where children and adults mix. Mindful of the need to be aware of child safeguarding issues, however, BN have a robust child safeguarding policy, code of practice, and a Child Safeguarding sub-committee that meets regularly and runs workshops on the subject, sometimes to groups from outside the naturist world.

For more information on British Naturism, please visit our website at:
www.bn.org.uk/. For the media, there is a dedicated “Media Centre” at www.bn.org.uk/mediacentre/, which contains useful information for those wishing to write about naturism or to feature this wonderful world in their publications or programmes, including a downloadable Media Information Pack. There is also a contact page, to ensure that any enquiries are directed to the right person and gain an appropriate and speedy reply.

Getting into stormy waters with the RNLI

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:41:11 +0000

BN's volunteer Public Relations Officer Brian Taylor challenges prejudice...

Just off Studland beach, Dorset, on a sunny afternoon in October, a family's boat began to sink. Fortunately, the couple and their two children were able to get to the beach before it did so.The Poole lifeboat was called to the scene where they found the family, shaken but unhurt and took them and their boat back to Poole. A report appeared the next day on the BBC website, quoting a Royal National Lifeboat Institute spokeswoman as having said: "Unfortunately for them, the nearest bit of land was in the middle of the Naturist beach at Studland" and: "the children had the additional trauma of the surroundings, so they were taken on board the inshore lifeboat and distracted from the scene."

I wrote to the RNLI, asking if these were true quotes and received an apologetic reply from their Public Relations officer, saying "We are an apolitical organisation and we do not comment on lifestyle choices (though we appreciate this may have inadvertently happened on this occasion)." However, we got hold of a copy of the RNLI press release from which we could see that the BBC had indeed accurately quoted. This contained the email address of the original author, so I wrote a lengthy email to her in which I quoted their PRO's reply and included her own press release with the offending phrases underlined. I pointed out how insulting this was to Naturists and that Naturism is a family-orientated lifestyle that, far from harming or 'traumatising' children, has many beneficial qualities and that it is prejudices such as she displayed that had harmful consequences. I got a reply, from the RNLI's media relations manager in the South West. She said "Please be assured that valuable lessons have been learnt from the initial reporting of this incident and will be reiterated in our volunteer press officer training." Which, I guess, is the best outcome we could have hoped for. I thanked her for her response.

But what of the BBC? Surely they should have shown greater editorial responsibility than to have mindlessly quoted such obviously prejudiced remarks? I asked the BBC if they would have quoted such remarks had it been Muslims instead of Naturists that had "surrounded the family". I also pointed out, having just received the results of our recent opinion poll, that there are more Naturists in this country than Muslims, so they managed to offend more people than I suspect they realised. Fifteen days later, I received a reply without any hint of an apology. They had obtained a copy of the RNLI's original apology to us and have now added that to the on-line article. I responded pointing out that I was still dissatisfied with their lack of judgment innot only quoting the remarks, but also in using one of them as a subtitle and as they had not removed the offensive quotes, they therefore continued to offend. I never received a reply.

Even as the above correspondence was flying back and forth, a report was spotted on the North Devon Gazette's website. It was reported that a couple of naked lady surfers had been seen off Woolacombe beach. A lifeguard had made a PA announcement, heard by everyone on the beach, that was quoted as being something like: "Attention in the water. The two young ladies who are naked surfing near the rocks, can you please leave the water as this is a family beach." I wrote to the Head of Lifeguard Operations making all the usual points. He gave a very dismissive reply so I wrote again, asking that they encourage their lifeguards to keep their prejudices to themselves, pointing out their own PRO's previous remarks about the RNLI being an apolitical organisation that does not comment on lifestyle choices. Again, I received a dismissive reply saying no more than "Thank you for the additional information and taking the time to comment."

We'll keep fighting...

Great publicity for BN as we hit breakfast TV s...

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 11:51:32 +0000

We often make the point that our subject matter can give us promotional opportunities that other groups don't get, but how valuable was the good publicity that BN gained from our appearance on ITV's breakfast show, Daybreak in October 2011?

BN's Commercial Manager Andrew Welch and Youth Officer Daryl Jones were among a group of BN members who got a chance to get our message across. Unfortunately, they were largely hidden behind several boxes of breakfast cereal but as Andrew said: "may not be everybody's favourite programme but you can't argue with the fact that there were probably more than a million people watching."

The TV appearance came because BN was approached earlier this year by Golin Harris, the PR company who handle Unilever's (http://www.unilever.co.uk/) fabric softener brand Comfort Pure who teamed up with British Naturism to prove that being naked is good for your skin. They staged a photo-shoot in Central London, ran an internet poll and set up the TV appearance,with BN getting the services of Golin Harris (one of the country's top PR companies, who also handle publicity for McDonald's) absolutely free. That gave Andrew, Daryl and friends theopportunity to go on national television and, as we always should, make the point that of course naturism is good for you. It's good for your skin, it's good for positive body image.

Andrew did well to steer the discussion away from the usual 'Oh, they're all a bunch of weirdos'' line by pointing out that naturists aren't anti-clothes, we just feel that they aren't always essential. It was also great to see so many young people among the BN contingent. There's a real drive within BN at the moment to attract younger members and seeing so many enthusiastic young naturists on national television can only have done us enormous good.

Unilever partners British Naturism

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 09:55:25 +0000

Yes, you read that right. We know our subject matter attracts a lot of attention, but an approach from one of the world's leading companies asking us to work with them is pretty special...

A short while ago, we were approached by the PR company who handle Unilever's (http://www.unilever.co.uk/) fabric softener brand Comfort Plus and have been working with them on a media campaign which is now coming to fruition.

Here's what they say about the project:
Comfort Pure is a brand that’s serious about skin. It’s a fabric conditioner with skincare research recognised by the British Skin Foundation. It is hypoallergenic and dermatologically tested, which makes it suitable for people with sensitive skin. But what’s this got to do with you?

Well, British Naturism has teamed up with Comfort Pure to prove that being naked is good for your skin – and we need your help to do it! All that’s involved is a click on the link below to answer a few simple questions in our survey. We promise it won’t take longer than 10 minutes of your time.

http://www.onepoll.c...3ba33ec73fae85f

There is also a Photo Call to get some images to go with a press release once the results of the survey are in. It will take place in London on Friday 16 Sept. I'm sure many of you would like to take part but they only need 5-10 people, a good mix of men and women. Please contact Jennifer Fermor JFermor@GolinHarris.com if you would like to be considered.

This is a great opportunity for promotion of naturism with the power of a huge mulitnational and their PR company driving things. Please help if you can.

Thanks!

A

British Naturism and the London Olympics 2012

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 08:52:34 +0000

In the 3 Year Plan (3YP) - item 3.4.4 - we talk about how we want to exploit the fact that the Olympics and Paralympics are taking place in the UK next summer. We’re now ready to launch the project properly and would love people on the forum to contribute ideas, suggestions and offers of help to get the very best out of it.

Yes, we are jumping on the band wagon as so many people will be doing, but we have an extra good reason for doing so in that the original Olympic Games in ancient Greece were done in the nude. I am still surprised at how many people that I speak to don’t realise that words like "gymnasium" come from the Greek word Gymnos, which means naked.

Dates - the main Olympics takes place from the 27^th July to the 12^th August with the Paralympics following from the 29^th August to the 9^th September. There are a number of locations around the country that will host sporting events.

The main things that we want to do are:

Raise the profile. Perhaps we will run an event of some sort where we will invite press and other key people. We have ruled out a big sports event/tournament because we don’t have the resources - both financial and pairs of hands – and there will be so much sport going on that we may lose the ability to stand out. We have a number of ideas that we are working on, but would love to hear from you as well.
Support clubs, swims and individuals who want to do something. It could be particularly good for local publicity and gaining new members - we will give you whatever help you need.
Making sure that information is gathered and provided to overseas naturists who want to come and enjoy the games. In particular this means clubs with accommodation making themselves available to visitors and/or individuals offering travellers a place to stay.

If you have comments that you would like to make then let’s get the discussion going. I am particularly looking for people to help put things together and would like to form a small team. Please let me know either on here or by email andrew.welch@bn.org.uk if you would like to be part of it.