NUDISTS MEET

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 438, 20 May 1937, Page 7

NUDISTS MEET

“STUPID CLOTHES” Annual Conference (Special Correspondent). London, May 7. In a Large house in North Finchley, surrounded by 20ft. palings, I attended an amazing conference. Entering tne house 1 was greeted- by a woman who was chatting to a nude man. I wai asked to go ups tars and remove my clothes. It was the annual .general meeting of the Na ional Sun and Air Association, a nudist organisation with branches in all parts, of the country. I walked up the stairs and passed two men entirely innocent of do h_ ing. Passing through another room I found a number of uncLad men and women chatting together around the ping-pong table. Everyone appeared completely unconcerned.

In another room in common with a number of men I removed my clothes, and glancing out of the window I saw a naked man and woman walkng on the lawn. As 1 undressed I chatted to a man who told me he was a schoolmaster and that he was trying to institute nudism in his school. “But parents and authorities . are very cautious,” he said. “It is the people in their stupid clothes who seem out of place here, not the people who wear the ‘nudist uniform.’ ’’ We went down stairs and entered a large room on the ground floor where the conference was being held. At the head of the room a nude chairman was sitting. At his side was a woman. Wearing—A Necklace. The room, like the people in it, was bare—at least 10 men and women were seated on the parquet floor. I wat placed next to a whose sole covering was a gold necklace. Most of the occupants of the room were men of middle age. Some of the women wore shorts, but the rest ■were in full “nudist uniform.”

A proposal was made by the chair-\ man that facilities should- be provided in parks and recreation grounds for sun.bathing and swimming in the nude, and was cordially accep ed by the delegates. The meeting also expressed approval of the Government campaign for physical fitness. Applauded. Another point made yyas that it should be legal for womep to dispense with any covering for the upper part cf their bodies when ,bathing. A generously proportioned gentleman sitting next to me applauded this motion. Everything was conducted in a serious manner, and it was obvious that these people who were gathered! together regarded their belief as an important one. They could not understand the attitude of anyone who either scoffed at it or did not agree with their principles.