Are British Naturism (BN) liars? In this post, we examine an idea that British Naturism are liars in that they claimed their membership had doubled since the Covid-19 pandemic. Here, we let you, the reader, decide.
So how did this all come about? Well, being a BN member at the time, I was intrigued that the president of BN, Mark Bass and another member Pam Fraser had been invited onto the TV program This Morning to talk about naturism. The opening remark from the presenter was that “membership of British Naturism had increased by 100% since lockdown” which I thought a bit strange.
Therefore, wishing to know if this was true, I went onto BN forums and looked at memberships numbers which are updated regularly – the increase was actually 2.4%! So where did they get 100% from? Well, the “marketing” guy at BN, Andrew Welch, had submitted a press release stating that membership had doubled “since Covid-19” based on the previous years’ membership numbers.
Is this a proper press release? Is this the right thing to say?
Apparently not considering all the media outlets are now stating that “BN membership had doubled” as a result of Covid. So, did Mark Bass and BN lie? Well, if you believe the press release, (the copy I have is a word document which could easily have been altered) of which I have not seen the original submitted, then no; the media simply got it wrong. But what if the original press release DID state that membership had doubled but omitted the Covid part? Then yes, a blatant lie. Who is ultimately responsible? The president, Mark Bass.
Let us also not miss another point; Mark Bass, Pam Fraser, Andrew Welch and everyone on BN’s EC (Executive Committee) had the opportunity to set the record straight.
“Actually Eamon, our membership didn’t double; it only rose by 2.4%. Sorry about that little lie.”
As NONE of them did take the opportunity to set the record straight, they are all guilty of perpetuating the lie. A https://www.google.co.uk/ search of “british naturism membership doubles” will show the number of media outlets accepting their claim.
I submitted a complaint against Mark Bass to BN via their disciplinary process on this point under the “Bringing British Naturism into Disrepute” clause of the membership terms and conditions and yes, you guessed it, it was completely dismissed.
So you decide…..Are British Naturism Liars?
I did wonder about this too.
Good little research, keep up the good work
I was a member of BN some years ago and with my late wife we attended the Nudefest. Andrew Welch gave a very boring talk and made Nudism seem political. Added to that his partner and a female member of BN staff sat fully clothed looking more bored than we were. I and many others walked out. Hardly a good advert for the being a BN member.
Added to this on what was a fine spell of weather did the two females participate in being naturists. We had a good time and lived naked for the whole time we were there but i was not impressed by the BN entourage and curtailed my membership.
Thanks for your comment, much appreciated.
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BN gained a lot of new members during the pandemic.
What doesnt seem to bother them enough is the attrition rate at first renewal. For any business, repeat business is the mainstay.
I got suckered in by the promise of events and making friends, but unless you live in the few areas of the country which have vibrant and active memberships, that promise just doesnt hold water. Once I’d joined, I discovered that the nearest event to me was 2.5 hours drive away and without events, its really hard to find local naturists to make friends with. I wont be renewing my membership
I too got suckered in by that promise – and the one about a BN membership opening doors to other events; neither happened which left me a bit sour.
BN is VERY keen for members to start organising events (which is what I do in the Southampton area) but the question is, why do we even need BN then?
BN is a business, it is only interested in making money. They claim to be for naturists but all they do is promote membership, not actual naturism. Since their relaunch, all I have seen is clothed individuals giving talks or naked people showing off on TV. Their ideals have slipped greatly from promoting naturism and the ideals of naturism, to exhibitionism, nakedness (anywhere and at any time) and nudity. Naturism ISN’T nudity. It isn’t exhibitionism and should never promoted as such. Having spoken to individuals who have worked for BN, the executive and regional branches, they all speak of sexism, chauviniatic ideals and male dominated environments that promote exhibisionism. As I said, nothing to do with true Naturism.
I have recently conducted a study into the current state of BN and have to say the organisation is an irrelevance. The information I found suggests membership has actually declined in recent years, what is clear is that BN is run by a very small group of people who could perhaps be accurately described as ‘zealots’, their prime aim appears to be maintaining control by excluding members from any active role within management of BN, they are not open to new ideas and are in fact quite hostile. I was elected Chairman of the BN North West Region in November 2021 but was immediately and consistently undermined the Regional Co-ordinator, behaviour of other committee members was appalling, no sign of naturist values here, the committee were not allowed to contact BN members directly or indirectly, the Executive Committee exercise strict control, like BN the region is controlled by a very small group, it surprised me to see how terrified they are of the ‘protestors’ to the point they don’t even mention family events. 3.8 million people in the UK identify as being Naturist/Nudists, of the BN membership of 9,800 only around 600 play any part within the organisation, sadly I feel BN has become a highly toxic and unpleasant organisation actually damaging to the cause of Naturism.
All of the above sounds very petty and silly. Do I want to belong to a group tangled in childish squabbling? Perhaps not
It may sound petty and silly but this is the reality of an organisation that purports to being the “official voice” of naturism in the UK. Many comments state that unless you are “one of the chosen few” and “toe the line in their thinking” you will either be silenced or ousted.
There is definitely 1 person admin on their forum (and I won’t mention her name) who considers themselves judge, jury and executioner – cross them and every post is marked as “needing moderator approval”! Is this the joys and freedom of naturism?
Where are the joys and freedom of naturism in all this?
The latest nonsense is that they are claiming a “survey” on naturism in the UK but it’s nothing of the sort https://www.bn.org.uk/news/information/about-bn/675-million-naturists-in-the-uk-r1187/ from 2,000 odd participants. Firstly, this was ONE question on naturism out of several that were conducted by Ipsos/MORI and NOT on naturism and was something like “have you ever skinny dipped/enjoyed social nudity..?” Secondly, how can an organisation with around 9,000 members claim to be the “voice” of naturism in the UK and represent that 6.75 million number (even if 1/10 th true)? It can’t.
As for the posts above about covid lockdown membership soaring. As a BN member, I can see the membership figures. What they are claiming is not evidenced from their own numbers and is utter b*** s***. It may have gone from just over 9,000 to slightly more over 9,000 but back down again as retention is terrible. So regarding relevance….this current BN regime are doing their best to make the movement irrelevant with (IMHO) lies like the above. Just silly and no need for it at all. Sad.
Not sure how they got 6.75m from 2249 people surveryed – perhaps BN can explain that extrapolation? But I doubt it.
Also, having done some research, I can’t actually find the result of the poll Ipsos Mori apparently did – I can’t see it published anywhere. Is BN just making this up?
BN is a propaganda organisation, and is happy to bend the truth. I got expelled simply for asking questions about some of the stuff Bass & Welch put out. They operate a ‘cancel culture’ against anyone who values truth over the way they view the world.
Hello Duncan,
Sorry, I’m posting this under an alias to avoid personal blowback from the beady eyes on the BN forum, but I have been reading the thread there that bears your name and the posts (from members of the EC and their allies) are giving me some cause to worry.
I’m not sure if any of the details have been passed on to you, but when David Ross questioned your mysterious disappearance, the replies given seem to suggest that the EC circumvented normal procedure in facilitating your removal.
Worse still, when other members queried why they would do this, the EC have tried to spin the situation as somehow “doing you a favour” by declining your renewal instead of expelling you. Even worse than that, a number of posters have been insinuating that you were expelled for unspecified “hate speech” on the forum (though it is being strongly hinted that this involved racism and homophobia.)
Try as I might, I’ve searched your old posts and couldn’t see anything that would constitute a breach of the rules, never mind lead to expulsion from the organisation. To me, this whole thing stinks to high heaven and I’m giving serious thought to not renewing my membership next year.
Frankly, I don’t trust either of the Marks and I get the feeling that they’re more interested in pushing their own personal agenda (with the enthusiastic assistance of John Weir as forum censor) rather than representing the interests of their members.
Perhaps the uptick in member numbers during the pandemic went to their collective head, but I fear that the toxic combination of hubris (getting involved in every crappy tv show that happens to feature nudity) and naïvety (getting into bed with the tabloids; being wheeled out to publicly defend the above-mentioned crappy tv shows, etc, etc) will come back to bite them in the not-too-distant future.
I’m sorry to hear that you, as a member of BN for over four decades, had to suffer the indignity of being drummed out on what seem like trumped-up charges. One hopes that BN is able to change course before it crashes into the iceberg and brings down the entire organisation.
Best wishes.
Thanks Chris, you are right on all points. If you (or anyone else) wants the full story of my expulsion with links to the evidence, see
https://forum.naturistactiongroup.co.uk/index.php?topic=514.0
(sorry can’t make a hyperlink, but cut & paste into a browser will do it).
Interestingly, BN membership has fallen back to the pre-pandemic level and continues it’s 2%p.a. long term decline. I remain a keen naturist, but it seems that BN’s version of Naturism isn’t what most naturists want.
We usually only go to European naturist resorts.
Otherwise we’re just naked at home.
We’d like to get INF cards, but they are only available through BN.
You cannot join separately.
If BN are becoming irrelevant, how can a UK citizen get membership of INF?
You are right. See https://members.inf-fni.org/ for more details. What we would need to do is prove that BN is irrelevant, does not care about it’s members and doesn’t support membership. There are numerous cases where people have been kicked out of BN for the only reason that they spoke out against the “leadership”.