Life At The Senate House

Author's Note

Some of the images accompanying these articles contain nudity so I am including an adult warning to what follows. None of the images are of a sexual nature.

What follows is not quite the naked truth, but rather something approximate to it. A couple of years ago, following my divorce, I moved into a naturist club. It is one of England's original sun clubs, first established in the early 1930s. Its grounds are attached to a large house that provides its members with a large social space including living room, bar, kitchens and a substantial number of bedrooms available for a small number of short term residents and to guests of the club.

What follows is an account of life at just such a club which I call The Senate House, a name does bear a relationship to that real club's. But in creating its architecture and facilities, I have borrowed and extended it with reference to other clubs, and indeed other houses. Likewise, the members I refer to have not necessarily all set foot in The Senate House's original. They are an amalgam of people I have known, both adherents to naturism and those who, so far as I know at least, have never practiced it.

There are various reasons why I have chosen to fictionalise my account. Firstly, for someone with my limited organisational skills and with limited time available for writing, I think it will prove easier for me to mould a coherent and entertaining picture by borrowing from different memories and source material.

Secondly, privacy is something that is dear to many, but there can be very specific privacy concerns held by those who meet in a naturist environment. It is easy to think of naturists as a peculiarly fun and daft bunch who are willing to appear on a tea time show with a carefully positioned teapot covering their genitalia. The majority, of club naturists at least, are not like that. Most would not be tempted by the annual invitation to abandon the lycra and cycle down Piccadilly starkers. Those participants of London's (or some other city's) World Naked Bike Ride tend to be a younger crowd, enjoying a daring laugh, but who would have little interest in lying on the grass, perhaps enjoying an occasional swim, game of tennis or cup of tea as points of interest in the day. Club naturists are frequently professionals and many are at least a little wary that they will not be taken as seriously in their chosen occupations if their penchant for going about undressed were known. So, if I borrow lines from some of them from time to time, I do not intend to borrow the people themselves.

Lastly, I hope that the fiction will ensure that I lessen the risk that I will embarrass my own club. I had not intended to reflect on any dark deeds of its members, but nevertheless clubs like mine often guard their reputation very fiercely. One particular prejudicial misconception held by many about naturists is never far from their minds. That is, the association in the minds of many of naturism with sexual libertarianism. Of course there are clubs and saunas badging themselves naturist where these kind of activities do go on, but most old landed clubs would not tolerate overtly sexual behaviour and fear attracting the wrong kind of applicant. In fact, I do write some small pen portraits about my club for the magazine of British Naturism, the UK's federation of naturist societies, and even these snippets on petanque championships, swimming galas and tea on the terrace are not sent off without the diligent scrutiny of at least one member of the Board.

So, The Senate House it is, though any photos included claiming to be of that club will be of other places passing themselves off as it.

Two more things remain to be done on this first entry. To introduce myself and to explain my title. I did wonder whether I should give myself a fictionalised name. There is no great shame in a pseudonym, and yet I think I favour that approach adopted by countless US sitcoms over the years and intend to refer to the fictionalised me by my real first name which is Andrew.  Then there is: "The Naked Truth" title which is perhaps an odd name for a fiction, but it indicates an intention of mine to use these pages to pass on some views that I genuinely hold about a range of topics and certainly not limited to naturism.

Andrew

This blog is born on the 4th July 2016