Many of our members enjoy visiting Britain’s Naturist beaches, whether they live near the coast, are having a day out, or while away on a UK holiday. Everyone will no doubt have their favourite destination!
For those visiting Naturist beaches for the first time, however, finding these destinations can be a bit of a challenge, perhaps because the information on how to find them is out of date or not accessible to them. And for some beaches, they may only be accessible if you have mountain goat abilities.
To address these challenges, improve access to local beaches and promote their use by Naturists and the general public, we need a team of volunteer Beach Officers, based across all regions, covering designated beaches or coastline. Besides having a knowledge of Naturist beaches in their area (or a willingness to acquire it), good research and recce skills and an enthusiasm for promoting Naturist beaches to the wider public, is required.
Importantly, it is a role that volunteers can grow into and develop for themselves, helping to build bridges between Naturist beach users and the local authorities and communities.
We’re delighted to announce that we have recently appointed David Bellis as the Regional Beach Officer for the stretch of beach on the south coast from Christchurch to Southampton. Most of the beaches are on the edge of the New Forest and the area has many small holiday resorts and caravan sites. Another factor of note is that this particular coastline stretches across two of British Naturism’s regions; the London and South East Region and into the South West Region, so David is volunteering in both regions, undertaking a single role.
Viv Rimmer, Regional Coordinator for the London and South East Region, said, ‘We are pleased to be able to appoint one of the first Regional Beach Officers in partnership with the South West Region and would like to thank David for his enthusiasm and commitment to promoting Naturism and social nudity.’
David is responsible for the Hengistbury Head, Taddiford Gap, East End, Park Shore and Calshot Naturist beaches and lives nearby in Lymington. David will be getting down to the beaches this spring to check out access routes and plans to make regular visits to the beaches this summer to speak with visitors. He looks forward to meeting you if you are visiting. You can contact David by email (david.bellis@bn.org.uk) or via the BN website (@Dave Bellis).
More information on beaches can be found on the UK Places to Go pages - bn.org.uk/activities/placestogo/
For more information on other Beach Officer vacancies, please visit our Volunteering Opportunities pages on the BN website or contact John Gelder, Volunteering Officer, by email to john.gelder@bn.org.uk