MY FIRST STEPS TO NUDIST FREEDOM

I grew up in the 1970's when that funny song: The Streak, by Ray Stevens was hugely popular. It seemed back then like everyone was streaking on TV, across some tennis court or football pitch.

THE STREAK 

But coming from a Textile family the closest I got to nudism was bathing and showering with my sister who is six years older than me. We would everyday before bedtime have a shower (a bath on Fridays) together before getting into our PJ's and having a cup of Cocoa in the kitchen, then off to our bunk beds; her on top bunk, me below. This pleasant carefree routine went on until I was about eight or nine years of age. I'm sure our mutual nudity had a positive effect on both of us seeing the differences between our naked bodies and accepting nudity as natural. However, like most textiles the closest I got to a Nudist Camp was watching the comedy classic movie, Carry On Camping (1969) which brought nudism into our living-room with its notorious Cinema opening sequence making us all laugh!

CLASSIC NUDIST CINEMA SCENE

But unlike those happy carefree nudist children I saw on the screen, I was a Textile and therefore did not have the advantages of a nudist upbringing or any of the benefits that playing naked outdoors in a wholesome family nudist environment bring. But yet as fate would have it,  I was lucky enough to have had some great childhood nude experiences that no doubt became the trigger for me to become a nudist when I was older!

NUDE AT THE BEACH

My first memories of being nude outside as nature intended was at the beach. In July my family always had a couple of weeks holiday at the seaside resort of Weymouth in Dorset. Weymouth beach is not a nudist beach, but I remember happily playing nude for hours, building sand castles in the hot golden sand and jumping over endless waves with my sister as they broke on shore. My sister being six years older than me opted to wear her swimming costume! But there were always other little kids, toddlers mostly, playing nude so I wasn't the only one by far. I remember in the record breaking hot summer of 1976 my mother bought me a red swimsuit which I think I wore only once, I just couldn't be fussed with that! One time I was digging this deep hole and a girl about my age who was not nude just came over and joined in beside me and started helping me dig. Her older brother soon joined us and together we worked as a team digging this great big hole. No one seemed to mind or care, or worry that I was nude and the girl and boy did not seem to take any notice at all. Such happy days! I recently discovered that Weymouth has long been associated with nude bathing! King George III made Weymouth a popular spa town, when he used to visit Weymouth to take the waters and indulge in the health benefits of sea bathing. In fact you can still see a Victorian sea bathing machine displayed along the esplanade. It's hard to believe now but Weymouth was what we might call today a 'costume-optional' resort, well at least it was for the men. As this following ditty explains from the website: Victorian Tales From Weymouth and Portland.

WEYMOUTH 1864 - A VICTORIAN NUDIST RESORT

In 1864 a letter was sent to the Times, part of which was printed in the local papers. F.S. (who ever they were) wrote of their absolute disgust at the sights they witnessed while staying in Weymouth. They comment upon the fact that at high tide the sea reaches right up to the promenade wall (not any more!) slap bang in front of the guest houses and the esplanade. What made it so intolerable was that men without a ‘rag of covering’ were permitted to wander around at any time of the day. It was no better than if they were permitted to wander the streets of the town stark naked!
Even when it was low tide, the men in all their natural glory had to wade for yards before they could enter their bathing machine.

I think what incensed the writer most was that despite this display of masculine nudity the Esplanade appeared to be a favoured promenade for people of both sexes…and cuttingly remarks that ‘nor do the windows of the adjoining houses appear to me to be entirely deserted.’

Victorian Ladies enjoying the outrageous sights of Weymouth Nudist Beach!

As the author of the letter was writing this very missive, they bemoaned the fact that another train was pulling in filled with ‘country people of all ages and sexes’ Asking that surely it wasn’t right that they should witness such debauched scenes.

What was interesting was that the year after this article appeared in the Times and the local papers, the very same matter was brought before the members of the town council.

Mr Bartlett, who was the keeper of the bathing machines requested an amendment to the bylaws concerning the matter of men and nudity. They were politely requested to dress modestly after eight 0’clock in the morning. He said that despite there already being a poster of the by laws in every bathing machine, and him having an ample supply of bathing drawers for the men to don before leaving the shelter of those machines, most men simply refused to wear a stitch when taking the waters, despite the fact that they could be prosecuted for not doing so.

This delicate matter seemed to bring a great deal of hilarity to the council committee, no end of quips shouted forth during the debate.

NUDE SCHOOL SWIMMING LESSONS

School swimming lessons were the rule in the UK when I was a boy. I started swimming lessons at school when I was 7. Us kids used to go on the coach to the public swimming pool, but I hated having to wear a swimming costume especially as I had always enjoyed the freedom of being nude at the beach. My mum went to the school and asked if I could do my swimming lessons in the nude and they said I could, which was great for me. I was the only boy nude among a class of about 40, both girls and boys together. The girls always had smiles from ear to ear and girlish giggles when I entered the pool area, and I’m sure all thoroughly enjoyed the experience of seeing me naked. But I did not care! I was just happy to be able to do my swimming lessons in the nude and it was great!

 

THE POOL PARTY

I was eight-years-old during the summer of 1977. A retired grey-haired lady Mrs G who lived a few blocks away would sometimes kindly look after me when my mother was working. I didn't mind as it meant I could play with her two granddaughters, Michelle who was about eight and Catherine who was seven. I liked them a lot and we all got on well. One hot afternoon my mother dropped me off as usual and I was met by the girls wearing their bathing costumes. They were all excited because they had a new paddling pool and were having a pool party with their friend Jane who was about nine or ten. She had brought along a large beach ball which she was holding up and was wearing a pink bikini. "Have you brought your swimsuit?" She asked. I hadn't of course as this was all unexpected and news to me, and I didn’t much care for swimsuits anyway. But the water looked so inviting on such a hot day and the girls were having so much fun! Mrs G must of sensed I felt disappointed that I could not join in with the fun so she suggested I could go in wearing my underpants. I went back inside the house and quickly stripped down to my cotton undies but I wasn’t to keen on the idea really as I liked being nude as I usually did. I hurriedly rushed outside and asked Mrs G if I could go nude as I did that at school swimming. She smiled at me, and without a moments thought she swiftly pulled down my underpants right down to my ankles, right there in front of the girls. I was completely starkers! The girls were naturally delighted of course, all wide eyed and grinning from ear to ear doing there best to suppress girlish giggles, at the nude boy before them. Michelle suddenly piped up. "Come on, get in!" And moving to one side she gestured to me to get in beside her. Mrs G gave me a reassuring smile and folding my underpants turned and went inside. After the girls had got over the initial 'pleasant shock' and novelty of having a nude boy in their company, they soon became accustomed to my nakedness, and we all played as we normally did. At one point Jane took off her bikini top and left it discarded draped over the swing! But that was as far as the girls striped off. Needless to say I had a great time playing in the sunshine with the girls and their beach ball splashing in and out of the pool and streaking about the garden. When my mother came back to pick me up I think she was happy to see me naked and took no notice as usual. Jane's mother arrived shortly after and joined my mother and Mrs G for a cup of tea. During the conversation my mother affectionately referred to me as her 'Little Nudist' and said that on the beach I never want to wear my swimsuit, adding that she had to ask permission to my school to let me do my swimming lessons in the nude as I just would not wear a swimsuit. Jane's mother was actually pleased that Jane; an only child, had 'at last' seen a 'real nude boy' as it was an 'education' for her and suggested jokingly that next time the girls should go streaking too! Everyone laughed!

CLASSIC SKINNY DIPPING SCENE 

THE SKINNY DIPPING DARE

Later came another fun nude experience when I was eleven-years-old. In May 1981 I went with my school, on a trip to an adventure camp for a week. We did a number of activities, fossil hunting, hiking, cooking on a camp fire, going on a motorboat, etc, but it was orienteering that led to this nudist experience. One morning with our map and compass we went in pairs orienteering, trudging mile after mile through woods and over fields before becoming hopeless lost. Eventually we came upon another 'lost' pair of orienteerers, (two girls who were non identical twins from our school) and all four of us went on together. We had not gone far when we found ourselves on a deserted stretch of shingle beach. We sat down at the waters edge and watched the waves breaking onshore. We all felt quite hot from all the walking and the water looked so inviting! We dared each other to go in for a swim to cool down but we did not have our swimsuits with us! My friend suggested that we could go in, in our underwear, but the girls did not want to get their underwear wet and so they suggested we go skinny dipping instead. I had been naked on the beach before when I was younger on holiday. The thought of going naked did not bother me, but the thought of getting seen and caught by one of the camp staff or worse, my teachers who were meant to be about somewhere, and then hence getting into trouble, made me feel hesitant. The girls said we were chickens! I looked at my friend who after a moment said. 'Come on let's!' It was going to have to be nude or not at all! It all seemed so daring! So after taking a final look around to make sure nobody was in sight, together we stripped off our clothes and in fits of giggles we all rushed naked into the water! However, to our shock we soon discovered that the sea in early May is not as warm as it looks, in fact it is freezing! Hence needless to say we were in and out in a dash! A few giggling minutes for the breeze to dry us, then we hurriedly got dressed and back to our map reading. It was all very innocent. It was only afterwards as we made our way back along the beach that the girls confided in us that they were actually nudists! They told us that they went to a nudist campsite in France (I can't remember where) and added, they and their parents would go around naked all day at the beach where there was loads of nudists of all ages, so being naked in front of us two boys did not bother them in the slightest. They said there was a nudist beach in Brighton that they went to when it opened in 1980, and were going to visit it again soon. They spoke more about their nude family life, I think me and my friend were astonished by their delightful honesty and obvious enthusiasm for their nudist upbringing, yet understandably they did not want us to make it known that they were nudists as they would never live it down at school. They made us promise not to tell anyone that we had been skinny dipping. We both promised of course! Those beautiful, innocent, mad few minutes of nude splashing in the surf and laughter on the shingle beach was for me, and I think my friend too, the best adventure of the whole adventure camp week!
It's interesting to note that about this time nudism/naturism was expanding in Europe and even the UK had its first nudist beaches, one at Brighton and one at Hastings, and it must have seemed back then that nudist recreation was about to take off. In 1979 the BBC even made this positive documentary: Lets Go Naked, about it. It's a bit dated now of course but worth watching.

LETS GO NAKED

TO BE CONTINUED

Nudism or Naturism! - To be Naked as Nature Intended.