Secretaries Winter
Comments:
The Year Past - A Summary of activities in 1996
We began the year uncertainly, but on the crest of a wave of optimism and
with a deep determination that we were not going to surrender. The National
Trust, for their part, seemed equally determined to force us into surrender and
to conform to their draconian restrictions which sought to restrict nudists to a
miserable strip of ground with little natural beauty and no solitude.
They want us out of Studland, that is the top and bottom of it, however hard
they deny it, and it is a great pity that there is a sizeable group of nudists
who refuse to believe this and think that the sun shines out of the National Trust's
fundamental orifice. They are the ones to whom the National Trust pays attention and whom
they quote as being "quite satisfied with the boundary". Of
course they are - they never move off the beach! Just because they
don't want to wander through the deserted hinterland is no good reason to
restrict those who do want to take advantage of the whole traditional area.
The National Trust has also demonstrated a skill of media manipulation that would not
have been out of place in the organisation headed by one J. Goebbels. It has
been a salutary experience, and one from which SUN has learnt a lot. In the
coming years, we shall be setting our own agenda with the media, giving the
National Trust
no chance to hijack our plans for their own purposes.
It's disturbing to see Dorset Police
so compliantly supporting the National Trust's vendetta against nudists
It has been disturbing to see Dorset Police so compliantly supporting the
National Trust's vendetta against nudists by accompanying National Trust employees on their harassment
expeditions and selectively employing their uniformed presence in a threatening
and overbearing manner. This matter is being taken up with the Chief
Constable and it is to be hoped that the police will concentrate their
efforts on the prevention of crime, most of which takes place in the densely
populated area of the beach rather than way out in the wilderness.
Trust refer to 'other naturist groups' but
refuse to give any details
This year's meeting with the National Trust management team was, to say the least,
unproductive. It is evident that they are not in the least bit interested in our
views and that they have no intention of removing their ridiculous path or
oppressive restrictions. They keep quoting 'other naturist groups' but refuse to
give any details of these: it is becoming more and more obvious that they exist
only in the National Trust's fevered and fertile imagination. Certainly the 'groupies'
previously referred to are not a formal group, as we are, otherwise we would
have known about them since our membership covers the entire length of the
beach.
Involvement of Studland Parish Council
in discussions but SUN kept out
The National Trust also claimed to be involving Studland Parish Council in their
discussions (although quite what this has to do with them is not too clear) but
a polite request to be informed of the date and place of the meeting with the
Parish Council was rudely refused by the National Trust, and a letter to the clerk of the
Parish Council, sent in October, has not draw even the courtesy of an
acknowledgement at the time of writing (4 December).
CCBN do not even mention Studland in
their promotional leaflet, 'Naturism in the South West'
so what the hell gives them the right to make agreements with the
National Trust?
What is certain is that CCBN, the body supposedly dedicated to the promotion
and protection of nudists' rights, caved in like a house of cards to the National Trust's
demand for restriction. We now hear that the restrictions dictated to CCBN's two
(!) representatives were significantly different to the ghetto currently being
pushed by the National Trust. In any case, CCBN do not even mention Studland in their
promotional leaflet, 'Naturism in the South West', so what the hell gives
them the right to make agreements with the National Trust? The Northampton Nincompoops have
a lot to answer for!
National Council for Civil Liberties confirm what we have been saying all the way along - that the National Trust have been
trying it on and currently have no legal means of enforcing their new zone.
The Counsel's Opinion, obtained for us by the National Council for Civil
Liberties and reproduced here, may seem at first glance discouraging. However, it does
confirm what we have been saying all the way along - that the National Trust have been
trying it on and currently have no legal means of enforcing their cordon
sanitaire. Given that they have already been refused an additional byelaw by
the Home Office, their chances of succeeding with a repeat application are slim,
and we are now more aware than we were and will be ready to challenge any
attempt on their part to reinforce their totalitarian restrictions. SUN members
are invited to join the
NCCL - the
more of us who are in the organisation, the more chance we have of getting them
to take up cudgels on our behalf.
Our search for a nudist-friendly solicitor goes on. You may have thought that
that great champion of nudists' rights, CCBN, might have had a list of such
luminaries, but no, they "don't have any list of solicitors".
(Phone call 28/11) Neither, it appears, does anyone else - it seems that,
although there are almost certainly members of the profession who are nudists,
they choose not to make this public. So we are now planning to consult a local
lawyer who is familiar with National Trust-related law, and tackle the problem from that
angle. We are, however, setting a target date early in 1997 for a definitive
resumé of nudists' rights in law, and we will be issuing this - hopefully, on a
laminated card - to all members before the beginning of the next summer
season.
First birthday party for SUN
The September Noggin'n'Natter was a bit special - we held our first birthday
party, cake and all! A good time was had by the thirty-odd members who turned
up. Sadly, the photos taken during the evening fell victim to the gremlins at a
well-known photo lab which managed to lose the film. (Did I hear a loud chorus
of sighs of relief?) The evening was organised at rather short notice and we
sent invitations only to members in the immediate area, but there's plenty of
notice for the next one: our SECOND BIRTHDAY PARTY and End-of-Summer party will
be on FRIDAY 5 SEPTEMBER 1997 at the Baker's Arms in Bournemouth, so please make
a note of that in your diary in red! Other dates for your diary are listed
elsewhere in this Update.
National Trust declare truce at 2nd
Litterblitz
Our second Litterblitz was undermined by the National Trust. From our point of view, it
was good fun, good publicity and we got a stack of rubbish, but our intention of
making a point about the restrictions was blunted somewhat when the National
Trust put an
announcement on local radio in the morning that they were "declaring a
truce" (although they thereby inadvertently admitted that they regard
it as a battle!) and that no action would be taken against nudists outside the
ghetto. They even tried to hijack the Litterblitz itself - Property Manager Julian
Homer turned out to pose with a bin liner and litter-grabber (although we're
not sure he knew how to use it!), while dressed in green polo shirt and shorts,
a garb deliciously described by Mark Nisbet in STARKERS 11 as "normally
reserved for their motorised myrmidons".
BBC Radio Solent interview
A ten minute interview with BBC Radio Solent was edited down by the next
morning to just six sentences, followed by a three minute live phone-link
interview with the National Trust's regional Press Officer Miz Liz. This, of course,
is an example of what is known as 'balanced reporting'. Still, as someone once
said, there's no such thing as bad publicity and we have managed to keep SUN
Group's profile a lot higher than the ten-foot fences behind which CCBN prefers
to skulk.
AGM after party
Following the formality of the AGM, we were able to let our hair down until
the early hours in the bar of the Holmcroft Hotel. I think it is safe to say
that a good time was had by all: admittedly, the fact that the hotel is a non-smoking
establishment caused the smokers among us some problems - and a couple of their
letters are to be found elsewhere in this Update - but from a purely personal
point of view it made a very pleasant change for your reporter not to go home
smelling like an old ashtray. (The next' morning, I discovered that a parrot had
apparently taken up residence in my mouth, but that's another matter!)
SUN Merchandise
Our range of clothing has been significantly expanded with the adoption of an
alternative logo. The smaller logo can now be printed on all garments, just
above the left breast, in the same colours as the full size logo but without the
legend above and below the main motif. Colin James
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