The Decline of Beach Naturism in Kent...
peterche...@googlemail.com
in 1985 at the age of 22. Apart from a couple of years belonging to a
sun club in the early 90s (which I rarely vistied as it (a) was too
difficult to get to & (b) was almost entirely made up of much older
people), my naturist experiences have been limited to Kent beaches,
both official & unofficial.
15 years ago there'd be at least 50 people stripped off on Long Rock
beach near Whitstable, but this has apparantly now declined to just a
handful of (very) discreet naturists. 10 years ago, Botany Bay would
have at least 25 people naked on weekends, but now there's rarely more
than 5 or 6, & these are almost always older men instead of the mixed
sexes & ages of before (& this decline was before the signs were put
there this year). On the unofficial beach near Reculver there were
always a handful of naturists there every day in the summer but now
they've all dissapeared. Ditto the nature reserve near Seasalter,
quite a lively place 10-15 years ago, but when I've visited
occasionally during the past few years there's been almost no-one
there....why is all this????
Has there been a decline (or increase) on the official beach near
Leysdown? I've only been there once (on arainy day) so I can't judge
this particular beach.
I know many people here are against the idea of designated beaches,
but just MAYBE this will be the shot in the arm Kent beach naturism
needs.
peterche...@googlemail.com
Have people here noticed similar declines in other parts of the U.K.?
Howard
beaches" in Kent have gone....
As someone who has visited beaches in Kent and Sussex for the past 40 years,
I - like him - find the dwindling numbers surprising. One might suppose
that the increasing enthusiasm by advertisers to use images of naked men and
women to sell their products might have made nudity more acceptable -
possibly even desirable - to the public.
Sadly, though, this doesn't seem to have influenced the shrill minority who
are offended by all sorts of things - not least the sight of naked flesh.
Even more sad (and as has been said in another thread in this newsgroup),
the complaints of the "Mrs Grundy"s are given credence by some local
authorities who may even try to impose "bans". Canterbury Council giving in
to the grumbles of a few dog walkers and slapping up meaningless signs at
Long Rock at Tankerton and Thanet Council with the Botany Bay saga are prime
examples. It has been a similar story at Sandgate, near Folkestone, where a
section of beach long used by local naturists has gained a new promenade and
threats from the Council to enforce existing antiquated by-laws against
beach nudity.
Peter also mentioned reduced use of Sandwich Bay. Here, I'm sure many
former users have been put off by the intimidating tactics employed by the
neighbouring golf club and the £5 toll on the access road. The other beaches
he mentioned - between Reculver and Minnis Bay and at Seasalter nature
reserve - are largely well-kept secrets and, for some, not easily reached.
If older users stop going, who is passing on the information to potential
younger users?
Which brings me to Botany Bay.... This is one of the most attractive beaches
on this part of the Kent coast. There is a main public beach area where the
majority of the public settle and, round a headland, a second stretch of
beach with low sand dunes and backed by low cliffs. This is the area
historically used by naturists and should remain so. If Thanet Council could
be persuaded that they have a promotable asset, maybe we'd see more visitors
to Thanet and reverse the declining naturist numbers.
Reg Barlow
> <peterchecksfi...@googlemail.com> asks where all the users of "naturist
> beaches" in Kent have gone....
>
> As someone who has visited beaches in Kent and Sussex for the past 40 years,
> I - like him - find the dwindling numbers surprising. One might suppose
> that the increasing enthusiasm by advertisers to use images of naked men and
> women to sell their products might have made nudity more acceptable -
> possibly even desirable - to the public.
>
women - to sell goods and services and the acceptability of social
nudity. While the red tops like the Sun, the Daily Star and Daily
Sport suggests that every(man) likes looking at a 'tastefully' posed
naked woman, not many people are willing to strip off for purely
recreational purposes. The success of The Alternative WI Calendar in
aid of Leukaemia Research, and the countless copy cats since, suggests
on the other hand that people are prepared to strip off for a purpose,
for even a good cause. What's needed is something to persuade them to
try naturism properly.
[snip]
>
> Which brings me to Botany Bay.... This is one of the most attractive beaches
> on this part of the Kent coast. There is a main public beach area where the
> majority of the public settle and, round a headland, a second stretch of
> beach with low sand dunes and backed by low cliffs. This is the area
> historically used by naturists and should remain so. If Thanet Council could
> be persuaded that they have a promotable asset, maybe we'd see more visitors
> to Thanet and reverse the declining naturist numbers.
As lovely as the beach at Botany Bay is, if anyone needs a toilet they
have two choices; put something on and going down to the main part of
the bay and using the public toilets there, or finding a 'quiet' spot
closer to the cliff... I'll leave the rest to your imagination. And of
course, the likelihood of a woman going al fresco is less, but if
needs must! And unless you thought about it before hand, it's the same
palaver to get something to drink and eat.
Could it be that the lack of or unequal facilities put people off the
idea of nude recreation at the beach?
Reg
peterche...@googlemail.com
>
> Could it be that the lack of or unequal facilities put people off the
> idea of nude recreation at the beach?
But the (lack of) facilities was the same 10 or 15 years ago & there
were far more people of both sexes there then, so this doesn't explain
why people seem to be dissapearing from Kent's nude beaches.
Reg Barlow
A change of expectation does. Have your expectations for your holiday
enjoyment changed in the last 15 years or so? Mine certainly have. We
all change over time and unless the facilities we use changes with
them, they die. Take Margate as a case in point. Before the creation
of the package holidays in Spain and elsewhere, Margate and Southend
was the holiday destination of choice for thousands of Londoners. Not
any more. Likewise, who would have thought 15 years ago that naturists
would want to walk the footpaths of this country, just like any other
Rambler, but in the nude? Society is still to catch up with that I
think.
As I said, as lovely as Botany Bay is, as long as the beach remains
unwelcoming to families, it will only be enjoyed by a dozen or so -
mostly male and advancing in years, I think you said - naturists.
Reg
marc
As a child my mother would take us children on three buses and then a
walk of a mile down a steep hill to a beach, and then reverse. I was
working near that bus stop last summer, I saw almost no families making
the same trip.
peterche...@googlemail.com
I agree with what you're saying about changing expectations of
holidays, but the vast majority of naturists on Kent beaches were &
still are local people. Before they were happy to use whatever
naturist beaches (official & unofficial) were available, but now
there's far fewer of them. I doubt if they all have secluded gardens
or belong to sunclubs, so where are they all?
peterche...@googlemail.com
>
> - Show quoted text -
I should add that (at least at Botany Bay) there's as many "textiles"
of all ages / sexes as there's ever been. So the lack of facilities
doesn't seem to scare these off.
Reg Barlow
>
> I agree with what you're saying about changing expectations of
> holidays, but the vast majority of naturists on Kent beaches were &
> still are local people. Before they were happy to use whatever
> naturist beaches (official & unofficial) were available, but now
> there's far fewer of them. I doubt if they all have secluded gardens
> or belong to sunclubs, so where are they all?
Why shouldn't the expectations of locals be any different from people
further afield? And I agree with you that not all will have secluded
gardens, etc. It would be interesting to survey this (no I'm not
proposing we do it here, as we've already done that one) but
communicating with such a wide diverse set of people would be
difficult, as we have discovered.
Reg
AndyC
<peterche...@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:1191613859.7...@o80g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> On 5 Oct, 20:19, Reg Barlow <reg.bar...@dsl.pipex.com> wrote:
I doubt if they all have secluded gardens
> or belong to sunclubs, so where are they all?
While a secluded garden may be preferable, it is not a prerequisite to
garden naturism. Most people do not have a secluded garden but some of those
still practice naturism. I know that because I used to sometimes see my
neighbours a few doors down the road naked in their garden from my upper
floor window. Perhaps they also saw me at times.