Alfresco nookie - so what!
June 1998
And now, a letter that some members might think controversial.
The writer prefers to use the nom-de-plume Mary Smith, and for reasons which
will become obvious has asked me to destroy her original letter. I can assure
her that this has been done.
Dear Sun,
I have been visiting Studland with my husband for many years. We
usually try to find ourselves a secluded hollow, away from the crowds because we
live in a densely populated area, we both have high-stress jobs and we need to
get away from it all from time to time, just to relax and enjoy the peace and
tranquillity. However, we have noticed in the last couple of years that there
has been an upsurge of intrusive behaviour by National Trust wardens, amongst others. Our
favourite spot is well off the beaten track and we are rarely bothered by lurkers who appear to favour the first line of dunes at the edge of the beach,
but last year and the year before we frequently heard and saw National Trust wardens
prowling around, spying on people simply taking advantage of the almost deserted
area between the second line of dunes and the trees. Why can't they just off and
leave us alone? On top of that, we see this year that great swathes of
undergrowth and trees have been destroyed, we understand by English Nature in
the name of conservation. They've got a damned funny idea of conservation! It's
got nothing to do with that - it's all part of the overall plan to make Studland
so unattractive that nudists will stop using it.
The ones I really feel sorry for are the gay guys. We know quite a few,
and count them as friends, and the way they are treated at Studland is a
disgrace. They don't harm anyone, and their behaviour is usually better than a
lot of the straights. At least the gays, for the most part, find somewhere
secluded if they want a bit of fun. We have seen straights screwing in full view
of passers-by, in fact a lot of them seem to put on a show deliberately
encouraging spectators. And this is on the front, where the crowds are - why
don't the National Trust do something about that? Maybe they like to watch, as well? But the
gays get constant harassment, not only from the National Trust spies and the uniformed cops,
but they have to put up with the activities of the vice squad as well. These
goons should not be in the police - they are not only homophobic bigots, we have
both known instances where we believe they have 'massaged' or concocted
evidence, and the use of 'pretty police' to try and entrap gay men is common,
although perhaps not quite as common in Dorset as it is where we live and work.
All nudists want, whether straight, gay, bisexual or whatever, is to
enjoy the quiet and beauty of Studland. We've been doing it for donkey's years,
and now the National Trust want to stop it. Well, they haven't found our secluded little
hollow yet, so they're not going to stop us. And if nudists - whatever their
sexuality - want to enjoy a bit of alfresco nookie, and provided they find a
spot where they can't be seen by casual passers-by, then so what? The National
Trust should
stick to picking up litter (instead of creating it) and the police should be
catching real criminals instead of playing puppets to the National Trust's tune. As for the
vice squad, they're beneath contempt.
Here's hoping for a hot, sunny summer. A big thank you to SUN's
Representatives who are doing a bloody good job, under difficult circumstances,
for the benefit of all of us: as they say in Edinburgh, "lang may yer lum
reek!"
Mary Smith
Well, I said it might be controversial, didn't I? I'm sure
that will provoke a response, and probably not only from SUN members. I have her
permission to tell you, in case you get the wrong end of the stick, that
'Mary Smith' and her husband are both part of the police system. They also used to be
National Trust members, but have not renewed their subscription because they are so
disgusted with the way the National Trust have treated Studland since they took it over.
And that is about it for the general letters. There is one
other, very long letter but we are going to treat that as an article because it
is mostly factual and advice, rather than comment. Our sincere thanks to all
those who wrote, whether we have published your letters or not; particularly, we
must thank once again those members who wrote following the March Bulletin, and
whose support has been deeply appreciated by the Board. Please keep the letters
coming.
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