News
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News and Information
Contents
Ken Marriott Leisure Centre Evening - October
Child Protection Seminar
South Hants Country Club
Changes to our e-mail filtering
Message from the Region PRO
Alton - your last chance
Rex Watson
New Web Space
Fairlight Cove, Hastings -
latest 22/07/02
Please note
The date of the October session at the Ken Marriott Leisure Centre evening has been changed to the 20th October to become part of the BN AGM Weekend.
You should also note that due to the late confirmation of the change the date given in the autumn edition of BN Magazine No 173 is incorrect.
Dave Storey
Southern Region Members Representative
11th September 2007
BN Child Protection Seminar.
A Child Protection Seminar is to be held at Diogenes Sun Club for Club Delegates from Southern Region and the surrounding area on Sunday 25th March 2007.
See the Regional Events section of the Calendar Page for details.
Dave Storey
Southern Region Members Representative
3rd March 2007
South Hants Country Club
I regret that I have to inform you that I have been advised by the Manager of the South Hants Country Club that it ceased to be a Naturist Club and Holiday Park as from the 1st January 2007. I understand that it will continue to operate as a textile facility.
The change of use of this facility will be a great loss to the Region and will be missed by many Naturists.
Dave Storey
Southern Region Members Representative
5th January 2007
Due to a considerable increase in the amount of SPAM that we are receiving for the region e-mail addresses we are going to increase the level of filtering that is applied to incoming e-mails and will be changing some of the addresses.
Please go to the Officers Page to obtain the up to date e-mail address for the person you wish to contact.
As a result of this when you e-mail us you may receive an automated response asking you to show that you are a real person and that your e-mail is not from an automated SPAM generator. Please follow the instructions to reply to that response, this will allow your original e-mail to be forwarded to the officer concerned.
I appologise for any inconvenience that this may cause.
Dave Storey
24th October 2006
At the Southern Region AGM on the 13th May 2006 it was announced that the Region is getting low on funds and that BN is reducing the grants that it makes to the Regions.
The Region now has to find a way to raise funds so that it can continue to operate and provide a service to its members.
As Public Relations Officer (PRO) I proposed to the AGM that the Region should support an additional evening at the Alton Sports Centre next year, this was rejected. The meeting did not put forward any other ideas for fund raising.
We need to be able to provide a service to all of our 2000+ members, not just those who belong to clubs.
If anyone can come up with ideas for fund raising and activities that the Region could run please let me know by . Without your help with this there will be no funds available to run the Southern Region.
Chris Martin
Southern Region PRO
27th May 2006
Alton your last chance
Due to popular demand, the Southampton Naturist Group have booked two evenings at the Alton Sports Centre in an atempt to reinstate the regular evenings that were cancelled earlier this year.
See the Calender Page for the details.
Please note If there is sufficient support for these bookings it is hoped to reinstate the regular bookings.
If there is not the use of this Sports Centre will not continue.
25th October 2005
Rex WatsonIt is with great sadness that I have to advise you that Rex Watson our Regional Representative passed away at his home during the night of Wednesday/Thursday 7th/8th September. The Funeral took place on Friday 16th September 2005 at the Isle of Wight Crematorium, near Newport, Isle of Wight. The funeral was followed by a reception at Valerian Sun Club.
Dave Storey
19th September 2005 |
Our New Web Space
Our Web Site has now moved to its own home.
It is now hosted by Andrews & Arnold Ltd an Internet Service Provider located within our Region at Bracknell.
This will result in some changes to the e-mail addresses used by our Officers in the near future. Please keep an eye on the site for details of the changes. I am sure that the Officers will still be receiving e-mails at their present addresses for some time.
Don't forget to put our new address (URL) http://www.bnsr.org.uk/ into your favourites list.
Dave Storey
8th October 2004
Fairlight Cove Beach, Hastings - The latest information
I have recently recieved the following e-mail from Steve Doerr, Kent and South East Region Members Representative, about the current situation regarding the access to Fairlight Cove;
Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 18:33:09 +0100
From: Steve Doerr
Subject: Visit to Fairlight Glen, 7 June 2002
To: 'BN HeadOffice',
'ericholmes' ,
'Pat Thompson' ,
Dave Storey
Eric Holmes (KSERA chairman), his wife Eileen, and I (KSER members' rep) were invited to join Martin Jenks (parks & open spaces manager, Hastings borough council) for a tour of inspection of the cliffs in the vicinity of Fairlight Glen, Sussex, where access to the beach below was closed off last year. This visit took place on Friday 7 June 2002.
The attitude of the Mr Jenks to the question of beach access and naturist use was constructive at all times. The country-park rangers, also, would like nothing better than to see access restored. This would at least spare them the occasional verbal lashing from disgruntled visitors accusing them of anti-naturist bias. Indeed, it is by no means a purely naturist issue: Mr Jenks commented that one of the most frequently asked questions by visitors to the country park was 'Is there any way of getting down to the beach?
The Visit
---------
Approaching from the north-east, we first inspected conditions in the vicinity of Lovers' Seat. We were told that visitors to the area who wished to use the beach were clambering down from this area. Although it was a long way down (the high ground on this side appeared to be considerably higher than on the south-western side), the descent did not appear to be too challenging: the gradient was reasonably shallow, due to the effect of successive previous slippages. The ground was clearly very unstable, and fault lines were already appearing in the clifftop area, where it was clearly only a matter of time before the next slippage occurred.
We moved round the cliff-top in a westerly direction and were shown one area where fences had been erected to keep visitors away from the cliff edge: three isolated trees could be seen growing at the very edge, but when viewed from below it could be seen that they were actually growing in a few inches of topsoil which had been undercut by land falls so that they were actually protruding over the edge and anyone standing next to them was standing on little more than thin air.
Entering Fairlight Glen itself, we were shown the point at which the previously approved path to the beach began. We could see where the gap in the fence had been blocked (by the council) and the blockage subsequently removed (by visitors wanting to reach the beach). We were told that, within the past week, an informative sign, mounted on two sturdy posts embedded in concrete, had disappeared, despite the fact that the information on the sign was of use to visitors and emphasized the positive efforts being made by Mr Jenks's team to find a way of restoring access.
Ducking under the fence at this point, we headed towards the point where the council had previously erected steps to allow access to the beach: these are the steps which were removed (to great publicity) when they were found to be unsafe. (The removal was the direct result of a call from a member of the public using the steps who felt they were in danger of collapsing.) Mr Jenks acknowledged that the removal was badly handled in that the workmen should have spoken to those currently on the beach and given them the opportunity to leave before work commenced.
On the way, we inspected a new route created by beach visitors, diverting from the main path to a point where a descent could be made by a reasonably fit person exercising sufficient care.
We saw the remains of the steps lying about, and were then shown a spot a bit further on (to the south-west), where it might be feasible to place a first flight of steps, down to an intermediate level where some sort of board-walk would be needed to double back in a northerly direction to a point where the last stage of the descent could be made using a further flight of steps. An informal costing of this solution had been made, indicating a cost of £2000-£3000, this for a solution which could only be considered temporary in the light of the near certainty of further falls in this area over the winter. Mr Jenks seemed nevertheless prepared to spend a sum of that order out of his annual maintenance budget (£15,000, presumably to cover all open spaces in the borough). In any case, the council's duty of care to those visiting the area would require them to make regular inspections of the steps' safety. This would probably be manageable on a weekly basis, but daily inspections (if required) would be beyond the resources of the country park's rangers.
Mr Jenks floated the idea of voluntary rangers and/or an Adopt-a-Beach scheme: this would be a wonderful solution if feasible, but difficult for CCBN to organize as (a) most of the naturists using the beach appeared not to be CCBN members; and (b) many of those we were in contact with did not actually live locally, travelling instead from further afield (e.g. Kent & south London).
A further route was suggested through Covehurst Wood, which borders the western extremity of the beach. This would require considerable work in upgrading an existing informal (and rather circuitous) path, providing steps at various points. It was also perilously close to an area which posed a separate problem to the council owing to unsavoury activities by men visiting the area to meet other men.
Adopt-a-Beach?
--------------
Mr Jenks's suggestion of an Adopt-a-Beach scheme merits further consideration. There are a couple of members who write to Eric and/or me from time to time about the situation at the beach. One member has mentioned a group of friends who use the beach and who could possibly form the nucleus of a beach users’ group. Additionally, we could mailshot all CCBN members within a certain radius of the beach in the hope of contacting other beach users. Finally, there is a club fairly near, Mill Bank, whose members might be interested in participating. One thing seems certain, though: any representative group of beach users is likely to consist largely of people who are non-CCBN members. As an organization, we would have to address the issues of (a) whether the users’ group should be constituted as a BN member club; and (b) whether there should be any requirement for its members to take out BN membership. Unfortunately, there is a significant danger that the latter policy would alienate many potential members from the start. The insurance implications would also have to be considered.
The idea was mentioned in passing on the internet newsgroup, uk.rec.naturist, and drew murmurs of approval ('just the sort of thing CCBN should be doing, 'a neat way of setting some precedents - Naturists protecting the coastline", 'a whip round to help reinstate the access and a sign " You are here courtesy of UK naturists"), but no offers of help (other than financial) as yet. Nevertheless, I do feel we have an opportunity here to do something positive in terms of facilities for naturists and public perception, and to engage with a section of the naturist population that probably feels neglected by the national organization, if they even know of its existence. Perhaps Eric would like to speak to Mill Bank, and I (with the help of the office) could organize the mailshot.
Stephen Doerr
Members Rep, Kent & SE Region
This is still the current situation.
You are reminded that access to the beach is still dangerous and that
CCBN Insurance does not include this beach.
Dave Storey
14th March 2005
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This page was last updated on 11th September 2007