SUN Campaign History - Jun 1998

The leaflet has no legal standing - you can safely ignore it!

Many members will have seen this bizarre publication which the National Trust were handing out in their car parks in the summer of 1998. The leaflet has no legal standing and you can safely ignore it. Examining the leaflet in detail throws up some interesting points, click the thumbnails for bigger images and read on... 
 

It opens as follows:

"The National Trust has designated an area on the beach that Naturists are welcome to use. There are however some guide lines that naturists must follow in order to help management of the area."

As we have learned from our legal adviser, "guidelines" are just that - they are unenforceable, and have no standing in law.
 

"The area is marked on the ground with red topped posts. The total area is 24 acres. Please respect other beach users and wear clothes when you are outside the area."

The observant amongst you will have noticed yet another assessment of the area: add this to the list of 23 acres, 35 acres, etc., etc. How many people know what an acre looks like? (roughly half the size of a standard football pitch).
 

Given that up to 5000 people may be in this area (which includes the beach) on a good day, and they are positively encouraging textiles into the same area, the outlook for nudists is grim.

Do the National Trust order textile beach users to respect nudists?
... of course not!

Textile beach users can do what the hell they like, and no heavy-handed goons will descend on them. So why do the National Trust think they can order us around? Textiles can go where they like - the National Trust are trying to deny us access to some of the most tranquil and beautiful parts of Studland.
 

Moving on, we find The Great Lie perpetuated in print:

"Can people avoid the [naturist] area?

"Yes, a path called Heather Walk, marked on the map runs round the site, linking Knoll Beach to Shell Bay."

As anyone who has been to Studland knows, this path passes within yards of the red posts. Nudists within the "designated area" are clearly visible to people walking along the path.

It is obvious that the National Trust are hoping people using their newly devised Heather Walk will complain

It is obvious that the National Trust are hoping people using their newly devised 'heather walk' will complain, which will give the them an excuse to attempt even more punitive restrictions. (See pictures and read more on how the National Trust has encouraged complaints against nudists here)
 

"Please don't go out of the marked naturist area. To wander into clothed area (sic) will offend people who are equally entitled to enjoy the beach and the nature reserve."

However, since the nature reserve is totally outside the red posts. what they are saying is that we are not entitled to enjoy it.
 

"No sexual activity. Leave this activity for the privacy of your home. Naturism combined with sex will encourage intolerance from others."

There is more sexual activity in the dunes on Shell Bay, close to the ferry, than anywhere else. This is nowhere near the traditional nudist area, never mind the NT'S cordon sanitaire. But we don't see them issuing judgmental and moralising leaflets to the textiles. They persist in cleaving to this fiction that nudist = sex offender; then again if they admitted the truth, that there is no causal link, their entire case for restricting us collapses.
 

The next admonition is mind-boggling:

"Privacy is fundamental. ...It is not wrong to go to the beach to make new friends, but please respect a person's privacy."

But it's OK for them to invade our privacy, by wandering around peering over windbreaks and spying on us through the long grass. Double standards or what!

Next, carte blanche for voyeurs:

"It's not illegal to take photographs in public places. However, asking permission is common courtesy."

Yeah, and the kind of creeps who take clandestine photographs are big on courtesy. Now, if they get caught, they can legitimately say "But the National Trust says I'm doing nothing wrong". Finally:

"Speak up for standards. If a person seems unaware of beach etiquette, explain it kindly and politely."

No more smacking the perverts in the gob and throwing their cameras in the sea! A kind and polite explanation of why you object to them masturbating over your wife and children will be far more effective.