We are pleased to announce that building on the work of the last two years, British Naturism and the British Heart Foundation have agreed to strengthen our partnership for the next two years. We are confident that both Naturism and those suffering with heart disease will benefit as a result.
The British Heart Foundation were truly impressed by what was achieved at the inaugural Naked Heart Walk at Painshill Park last summer. Having seen how we operate, the BHF are keen to place our partnership more front and centre and support further fundraising efforts.
Promoting the acceptance and normalisation of Naturism is central to every decision we make. When we started on this journey, the BHF, like most organisations and most of the public were cautious about aligning themselves too closely with an unconventional minority group. The professionalism and respectability we have been able to show over the last two years has changed their perception, so that they are now keen to list us as a corporate partner. The safeguarding and management they have seen in our events means they are keen to promote our activities, certain that they are risk-free. This is where the time investment really starts to pay off for us.
We all know that people are keen to do something different for charity, the problem that we always face is that we are selling Naturism to Naturists and struggle to reach the wider community. The listing of our major fundraising events will change all of that. When people are looking to push their boundaries to raise money, they will check the BHF website and see our activities as something that will take them to the edge of their comfort zone but be entirely achievable. Through this development we hope to see lots of people who have never considered social nudity to give it a try.
Our plan is to run a number of Naked Heart Walks around the country, ideally one in each region, so that everybody gets a chance to participate and contribute. A national event manager from British Heart Foundation will be assigned to us with a brief to help the events get off the ground, be run successfully, and facilitate support from local BHF fund-raising managers and teams. The Great British Skinny dip will continue to be connected to the BHF, creating even more, local opportunities to get involved.
This type of partnership building is very much part of British Naturism’s long-term vision of normalising Naturism and we hope everybody will get involved in this next exciting chapter.
