GOING NUDIST

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 May 1936, Page 10

GOING NUDIST

GROWTH OF CULT IN BRITAIN. England is going nudist with a vengeance. All over the country there is feverish, activity in preparation for the 1936 season, and during the past six months more than £lOO,OOO has been spent in acquiring sites for nudist colonies within easy reach of London. Moro than 3000 new members have been taken in by the National Sun and ' Air Association since Christmas. The figures are mounting rapidly each week, and it is estimated at the present time that there are more than a million -dud a-quarter ardent ‘nudists ; ii Britain alone. Of those joining the association during the past two months, there lave been three bishops, 38 clergymen of various ranks, lawyers, decors and other professional men. Nudists are, in fact, in every walk of ! ife, and the cause has even received Hie sanction of many high members )f the Church.

Dr. Inge, London’s famous “Gloomy Dean,” recently spoke in favour of nudism, saying that “the exposure of the skin to sun and air is most valuable, and the churches have no sympathy with these squeamish town councillors 'who wish to insist that all persons should be fully from neck to knee.” The financial side of nudism affords a startling insight into the way it is growing in England. Once a stunt, it has now become a highly organised business. Suitably screen-! ed off spots near big cities, which for-| mefly could’ be purchased for next to j nothing, are now at a premium. One I plot near London, which real estate' agents had despaired of oyer getting rid of has just been sold to a nudist) society for £lO,OOO. Other sites have recently been bought within a short radius of the city, at’ Kew, Sidcup, Lu,ton, Reading, Windsor, Watford, Harrow, and Dorking. These nudist and sun bathing societies have to be very careful to take no risks of prosecution by the law. Before a site is chosen, it is carefully surveyed by a lawyer. If the site is overlooked in any way, whether from a road or the window of a neighbouring house, the lawyer immediately vetoes it, for the users could be prosecuted for committing a public nuis- I ance. i

The law in Britain is such that even on their own property, perfectly screened and hidden a.way from the public eye, nudists run the risk of prosecution if any woman claims she has been insulted by the spectacle. Nudism and sun bathing generally have taken such a hold on the British public that they have arranged for special trips to Continental nudist centres for officials of city and district councils. Visiting the colonies at Zurich, Munich and Frankfort, these trips will take place in May under the auspices of the Sun Bathing Society, which has the hope that the British officials may be favourably impressed , by the manner in which nudism is handled in Europe. 1