Later this month, women across Merseyside will be invited to strip off as part of the Great British Skinny Dip.
Interest in Naturism in the UK is reportedly "growing like never before" but one group in Wirral has recently been struggling to get more women to join their ranks. Carol, 71, who asked only to be identified by her first name, has been practising naturism for more than two decades and says being naked is "nothing to be ashamed of".
She told the ECHO : “It was around 2001 and I was a widow with two kids and the chap I met was already a naturist before he met me. It took me a while to get into it.
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"The first holiday we went on was a place called Southleigh Manor in Cornwall. The rules were, like a lot of landed naturist clubs, if you’re going in the swimming pool, you have nothing on. Up until then, I’d been walking around with bikini bottoms on and I thought ‘I stand out like a sore thumb more in bikini bottoms than if I didn’t have them on’ so I just sort of joined in and that was that.”
While Carol admitted her husband "probably enjoys naturism more" than she does, she described being naked as a "great leveller" and has made many friends through summer holidays at naturist resorts and Wirral Naturist Club's weekly meetings at Chester's Northgate Arena.
She said: "I do really enjoy the holidays but sometimes I do think I’d like a Saturday night in. Once I’m there though, I do enjoy it.
"Nobody cares what your job is or what you look like. We’ve had people with colostomy bags and amputees come along and everyone just all mucks in together.
“We all get on well together and try and make newcomers feel as welcome as they can. Naturists in general are a really friendly crowd and it's quite relaxing. Plus you don’t need all the luggage when you go on holiday.”
Carol has met a vast array of people - from doctors, to undertakers to solicitors - on the naturist circuit over the years. While the community itself is welcoming, the 71-year-old said some members of her family "aren't keen" on the lifestyle.
She admitted she doesn't practice naturism every day but said her husband will "happily sit undressed" at home. She told the ECHO: “As all naturists do, we sit on a towel for hygiene reasons. I’m also conscious we have neighbours with children and it's not fair to flaunt it in front of them."
Wirral Naturist Club has been meeting for weekly nude swims for almost 50 years, but Carol said she's started to notice a drop off in single women coming to the club. She said: “We’ve lost a few of our couples because there are so many single males and they feel quite overwhelmed by it.
"At one stage, when I joined, we were marketed more as a family club but now we’ve got several single males, many who are widowers or divorced. We’ve got some students in their early twenties up to a couple of people in their 80s. It's all age groups really.
“We’ve found numbers have tailed off a bit in the last few weeks. We thought at first it might be due to the Queen’s death and people thinking the pool was closed but we’ve had a few quiet weeks."
Knowing that women can be reluctant to strip off, the club is now inviting women to a female-only skinny dip on Saturday, October 29 at Brio Leisure, at the Northgate Arena in Chester. The event, where swimmers can choose whether or not to wear clothes is part of The Great British Skinny Dip, a campaign by British Naturism (BN) aimed at raising funds for the British Heart Foundation and promoting a greater understanding of Naturism and social nudity.
Andrew Welch, National spokesman for British Naturism, said: "Interest in Naturism in the UK is growing like never before, with many people better understanding the health and well-being benefits of going without clothes.
"As it happens, women report a greater life-changing experience than men, finding that their fears about being judged, feeling vulnerable or not being good enough completely fade. Swimming naked is one of the most exhilarating, life-affirming things you can do and always better in the company of like-minded people."
To find out more about the event, click here.
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