The weather on the way to BN’s 60th anniversary Jamboree in Hay-on-Wye, Wales on September 12 was, as it nearly always is when my partner Dave and I are en route to a nudie event, rotten. But – as also usually happens – by the time we arrived at our destination, Baskerville Hall, things were looking up, and they continued to look up as the days unfolded. It was our first Naturist festival, and it was a corker!
Baskerville Hall was the perfect venue for the Jamboree, and it easily handled us 220 or so festival-goers. The stately home is surrounded by woods and landscaped grounds, and it looks out across the beautiful Wye Valley. The rooms are high-ceilinged and comfy. We all made good use of the hotel’s several bars – whether for having a quiet drink and a chat or for talks, quizzes, bingo and late night discos. Dave and I stayed in the Hall, but lots of people brought their camper vans or tents. The food was pub fare but good.
From arrival on Thursday afternoon until we left Monday morning, we were busy as bees meeting old and new friends, chatting up a storm – and running around starkers (except for a lovely trip into Hay-on-Wye for lunch and a bit of shopping).
Mark Walsh outdid himself with the entertainment. Favourites: The band “Boomin’,” who belted out fantastic rock music. The murder mystery evening with the Perfect Murder Team. Made even better when our table won the consolation prize, a magnificent photo of Miss Mapletree, Pokeingham-on-the-Wold’s village sleuth and crime writer! 60s rock band The Fourmost. And Carl & Dave’s Comedy Magic. Yeah, the guys were funny and the magic astonishing (to me, at least). But the best part was at the end, when they both stripped off to raucous cheering and applause from the crowd in the nightclub.
On Saturday and Sunday morning, I took yoga classes – in person, for the first time! - with Georgia, with whom I’ve been doing BN online classes since lockdown. The Sunday session was outdoors. Challenging but fab!
Then there were the quizzes. The Decades music quiz was hard enough, but the 60 years of BN quiz was far beyond my capabilities even though I’d listened to Andrew Welch’s informative talk on our organisation. The breadth of knowledge in the room about BN was astounding, though maybe not surprising, given the fact that so many there have had a role (usually volunteer) in it over the years.
Final thoughts: What a great weekend! We could be as busy or as lazy as we wanted to be. Everyone’s common interest in Naturism meant that conversation flowed easily. We ran into friends from the Chester area, people I’ve corresponded with for the ezine, and festivalgoers from around the country (and the world: I met two fellow Americans).
It was such an effort to get dressed Monday morning before heading out to see friends on the south coast. Why isn’t everyone naked?