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Walking Naked in support of the British Heart Foundation.

Naked Heart Walks is a BN outreach initiative aimed at providing opportunities for nude recreation to all. I admit, unashamedly, that it gives us great pleasure when ‘New to Naturism’ members of the public join us with the intention of fundraising for our charity British Heart Foundation, and then find themselves thoroughly inspired by the freedom of walking naked and feeling the fresh air all over their bodies. I often hear ‘’Can I be included in the photo?’’, such is their newly discovered enthusiasm to be walking and socialising completely clothes free.

Of course the fundraising aspect and showing our social conscience is a key objective and we have had much success during the summer months, raising around £20,000 for the charity including £1200 raised by Suntreckers and a donation from the owners of the walk venue at Fonthill Estate of £395, also gift-aided.

One of the first events of the 2023 season was the enormously successful NHW at Powderham Castle (pictured), where everyone enjoyed the breathtaking Devon scenery surrounding the venue. We completed another Naked Heart Walk from Lancashire to Cumbria across Morecambe Bay in June with many newbies taking part in the 7.5 mile long walk. There were also successful fundraising walks at Leonardslee and RSPB Rainham Marshes in the LASER region, and the Fonthill Estate event, again in the South West, plus Adlington Gardens and the amazing dual NHW/GBSD event at Bishampton - the latter two belonging to the North West  region. It was great to achieve a groundbreaking cross-border coordination when the NW region joined forces with the YEM region to create a joint NHW at Himalayan Gardens near Ripon - thus attracting attendees from both the red and white rose counties. Thanks to everyone who arranged, attended and supported these fantastic events.

What began as a What's App group to search for more venues then developed  into a Zoom group, meeting fortnightly to arrange more events and share information on and assistance with Naked Heart Walks and Great British Skinny Dips. Our contact at BHF is also part of it.

It really worked and we (almost) tripled the number of events from 2022. We would like to increase the number of charity walks in 2024, so the NHW Team will be hard at it this winter making countless approaches to possible new venues. We believe that 15 NHW events can be achieved in 2024, so if you have a venue in mind that could be approached  then please feel free to suggest by making contact with us.

Best of all, we can already bring you details of some Naked Heart Walks already arranged for next year! Make a note in your diary. Tickets will be on sale soon for 2024 - keep an eye on the website and ezine for details and for more dates/locations as they are announced!

Naked Heart Walks for 2024

May 18th - Powderham Castle, Devon

June 15th - Leonardslee Gardens, West Sussex

June 29th - Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park, Yorkshire

July 6th - CWM Weeg Gardens, nr Newtown, Mid Wales.

July 21st  - Bishampton, Worcestershire

Ron OHare (Team Leader - GBSD/NHW)

nakedheartwalk.org.uk

Wild Swim in the River Ribble - Feedback 

Stay Wild and Swim Naked - well we did just that! 
Friday night was an absolute smash hit, from friends to strangers, from people who had never skinny dipped before to Naturists, we had them all. People holding the hands of strangers whilst they entered the water together, giving encouragement, bringing out the best in everyone. I certainly embraced my naked body as never before. 
In total we had 26 skinny dippers and we raised £162 on the night, with a further £188 in online donations, taking our current total to £350. Thank you to all who attended on the night, it was really nice to meet so many lovely people. Thank you all at BN for helping me organise the event and also for advertising it. Also last but not least, thank you Ron O'Hare for all your help, advice, support and also for joining us on Friday night. Watch this space - there may be another Great British Skinny Dip in the future!

Elaine (Organiser)

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Water’s Edge - Bishampton - Now booked for 21/07/2024

Whilst viewing the North West region’s collection of Naked Heart Walks and GBSD events in advance, I had visions of this event being the most difficult to sell and to accomplish any kind of real success, perhaps this was fuelled by negative information arriving in my inbox saying that there isn’t any possibility of enabling a 2k walk, or it may have been the slow response regarding early ticket sales.

This couldn’t have been further from the truth! Due to this being a double event (Charity Walk and Skinny Dip) it gave us a springboard for reaching out to two separate sources of interest, so this made the event even more appealing. The open water swimming in the large lake was far more popular than anticipated, thus attracting Naturists with alternative interests.

As for the walk being shorter - well it didn’t really deter anyone at all and I  came to realise that the Naturists in areas that are not really well served with events were really grateful for us taking the show on the road. They were completely happy to mingle and socialise with other ‘likeminded’ attendees,  engaging in conversation whilst clothes free enjoying the Summer Worcestershire sunshine.

We even attracted a few new Naturists, who were nervous at the start, but perfectly comfortable once they realised how quickly they began to enjoy being clothes free - not one of the 60 guests remained clothed throughout the day. My wife spoke to two of the newbies at length - Kelly from Merseyside and Carisa from Birmingham and they were even happy to be photographed Naturally. I am 100% sure we will return to this superb venue with its fabulous facilities in 2024.

Ron O’Hare (NW Organiser / PRO).

Six fantastic years on, the Wigton swim – still going strong!

It’s hard to believe, but it’s over six years since the inaugural Naturist swim took place at the Wigton Pool, Cumbria. As soon as the trial monthly swims were agreed following a suggestion from myself, the BN Commercial manager sent out several press releases to the Cumbria newspaper editors and radio stations and in a very short time - I found myself talking about this new venture to several journalists and radio presenters throughout Cumbria.  Lift off time had arrived!  

Soon afterwards - a journalist from ‘Newsquest’ working for the Carlisle based newspaper, the ‘Cumbrian evening star’ was asking for an interview outside the baths, so I suggested that he joined us in the pool to talk to other Naturists – Roger obliged and a full page report in the newspaper followed. We counted 53 swimmers at that event - with incredible support from North West BN members.

Reduced attendances this Summer, due to the swim coinciding with alternative Summer events in the area, almost resulted In a cut in the swim duration from two hours to one, but after a short chat with the Manager, ninety minutes was agreed upon, with a marginally increased price to keep the event alive. This has been successful with 30 swimmers attending the October swim – now an official monthly GBSD event and listed on the new Great British Skinny Dip website.

If you know of any venues that could be the Wigton of the future - they don’t have to be in the North West region! We are all constantly seeking to expand.

Ron O’Hare (NW Organiser/PRO.

SUPER SHAP LIDO – An Enormous Success story...

Since the first two approaches to the Shap Lido had been rejected, there were changes to the Shap Committee personnel as we came out of the pandemic and suddenly there was a change of heart, the two houses overlooking the venue were no longer a problem and so the Shap swim was finally accepted as being good for their Equalities and Diversities policy by the new Shap committee.

The Lido is the highest in England, so it did present a challenge, but it is heated to around 26 degrees. So during 2021 we arranged an event for our Outreach Group during June, which was well attended – it was listed on the new BN GBSD website and made a healthy profit for the British Heart foundation – this was repeated in August and September as official BN GBSD events and so the BN promotional machine was called into action with press releases issued by the BN marketing manager which led to positive radio and newspaper interviews.

I suggested that the Shap lido could host this event themselves as a permanent monthly event during 2022 to allow me the freedom to seek out new venues elsewhere - the attendances this year have been consistent. It has now been agreed to continue during 2024 as a monthly GBSD event from June through to early September, again to be hosted by the Shap Lido on the first Tuesday of those months 6-8 pm. Thanks for the tremendous support that the Outreach Group members have afforded us at this marvellous, unique venue.

Ron O’Hare (NW Organiser/PRO.

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