The reappearance of the Sun and blue skies across much of the United Kingdom this week is coinciding nicely with the start of the production process for the winter edition of British Naturism magazine.
I wouldn’t say it’s more difficult to edit a naturist magazine while wearing four layers of clothing and with the central heating turned up to max, but sunshine certainly puts me in a better mindset to do the job.
British Naturism is, you’ll not be astonished to learn, the official magazine of British Naturism, the organisation which promotes naturism in the UK and looks after the interests of British naturists.
I produce four editions per year, usually of between 80 and 90 A4 pages. The magazine is distributed to BN’s members in March, June, September and December as part of their subscription benefits.
I’ve been sole editor since January 2011, although I worked as part of a jobshare in 2010 and had been involved in editing the travel section for 18 months before that.
Like a cricket-lover editing The Cricketer or a real ale drinker editing What’s Brewing, it’s one of those jobs that is best done (should that be ‘can only be done’?) by someone with a passionate interest in the subject. As a naturist for most of my adult life, I certainly qualify and I don’t know that I could do the job properly if I wasn’t willing to visit naturist beaches, go to naturist swims and events, go on naturist holidays and be passionate about promoting the benefits of naturism.
That makes it huge fun and meeting readers at events is an important part of the job; and although putting the magazine together can be tense, time-consuming and frustrating at times, the fact that I am doing something I really enjoy, rather than subbing three-paragraph stories on the business pages of The Trumpington Gazette, makes a huge difference.
The magazine is made up of four sections - news, features, travel and the clubs pages.
The clubs pages, the first to be put together, go at the back of the magazine. This is where BN’s 100-plus clubs get the chance to publicise themselves. Some are the traditional sun clubs with their own grounds in the countryside, others hire venues for saunas and swimming nights.
I rely on club secretaries and press officers for information and I’ve tried to encourage more clubs to send in pictures to brighten up the pages. You may not be surprised that plenty of people are unwilling to be pictured in the mag, for fear of being ‘outed’ as naturists - even though we only distribute to BN members with a very few copies going to media outlets. However, the situation is improving and I hope a look at editions from 2011 compared to, say, 2005, will make that clear.
Then, it’s the travel section, a crucial part of the magazine. A big percentage of our advertising revenue comes from naturist holiday operators, be they campsites in Cornwall or 2,000-capacity cruise ships.
Much of the content comes from readers’ accounts of their experiences; recently, we’ve had cruises in the Caribbean; details of a new venue in Greece; holidays in Florida, South Africa, New Zealand. Subject matter such as that certainly helps to relax me if the pressure is on!
As with all good magazines, the features section is crucial. A couple of BN’s lady members enjoy writing on naturist topics while we recently had a piece on the relationship between naturism and tantra - a field which, like naturism, suffers from the false idea that because some practitioners have no clothes on, sex must be involved.
We also heavily promote BN’s nationally-organised events - the big summer specials such as Nudefest, the winter weekends in Blackpool and at Alton Towers, the summer beach days, our bi-annual sports events when our petanque players and swimmers are in action - as well as other naturist events such as the clothes-optional days at Abbey House Gardens, the nude night at York Maze and events which BN’s regional organisations stage during the summer.
We call that section ‘Big Days Out’ and that’s how we promote it - somewhere to come and be nude among fellow naturists while doing something other than just lying on a beach or on the club lawn reading a book.
At the front of each edition is the news section; this can feature stories from the world of naturism or ‘news’ stories with a naturist slant - perhaps the star actress who reveals her liking for naturism, the latest nude calendar etc.
All in all, it’s a pretty crowded package and I’m always proud when I see the final version arrive on computer from the typesetter and when the blue envelope carrying my paper copy drops through the front door.
If I’ve heightened your interest, BN is always keen to welcome new members; as autumn and winter approach, why not try out a naturist swim or sauna near you? Contact details for BN clubs can be found on the website at http://www.british-naturism.org.uk/clubs/. Perhaps we’ll see you on the beach, or out camping or at one of our events, when the sun reappears next spring.
