The pandemic has severely disrupted our lives and particularly our naked lives. We worry about people who spend their lives in front of screens participating in the digtal world and now, since lockdown some of us have become so used to being indoors that going out seems a big thing. Naturists like me have been able to dispense with the confines of clothing 24 hours a day as visitors become few and far between. I do use the garden and I have taken part in the great British vegetable growing revival that seems to have swept the nation, naturally gardening nude. Our neighbours are unconcerned.
As Chairman of the Eastbourne Naturist Club I have run weekly Zoom calls for our members and found that they too are enjoying the naked life. But we are social animals and naturists particularly find that they have a need to get naked with other people and enjoy some activities.
We had to cancel all our summer plans this year and worse still our pool that has been our regular mainstay for 30 years or more, has not reopened and is undergoing major repairs. Like some of our members, Leisure centre staff cannot be contacted as they are still on furlough, so we cannot make any plans. Or so we thought.
As new Covid-19 rules come and go and are replaced with a patchwork across the country, it is hard to keep track. So it was only last week that I discovered that swimming pools are exempt from the Rule of Six. This week we have agreed to go to a new venue not too far away and our first swim will be mid-October. As we have found in the last few years many businesses respect the right of people to live the way they wish and have welcomed us for naked events in and outdoors. We are usually praised for our considerate and friendly behaviour and welcomed back.
So our perspective has changed dramatically and we are thinking about 2021 in a new positive light. While BN has rescued the Sunfolk sunclub and has its own great plans for 2021, the Eastbourne Naturist Swim has never been a landed club. The cost of setting up such an enterprise has always been the big difficulty ever since the beginnings of English Naturism. The first club was able to open in 1924 because someone owned several acres of land in Essex, but they went abroad 2 years later. The members of the English Gymnosophical Society were lucky enough to find a benefactor in 1927 and Four Acres (now Five) was able to open.
It helps to keep in touch with other groups of naturists and promote our lifestyle when we get inquiries and ask each other to events, like out naked Christmas lunch we have held for the last two years in a lovely country pub. So Mill Bank Sun club who are a camping orientated club have struggled to find a regular haunt in recent years, but have started using a field not far from Eastbourne. So we are hoping to have a regular venue for our club meetings when the warmer weather arrives in 2021. What a change that will be for our club.
Whilst we would all like our members to spread the word so we can expand a little, but above all that the public sees that a huge number of people love to get naked, many anticipate some form of social ostracism. For this reason, the majority of our members don't come to our infrequent beach days, although the stiff south-westerly that often blows may also be a deterrent along with the textile invaders who can often rudely stare. So a private outdoor venue will be our earthly delight where our friendships can be developed and our lives enriched free from the distractions of the commercial world.
So the GOOD NEWS is that we will be GETTING NAKED in 2021.
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