My first naturist event was also a Club Soleil swim, in my case at the Bedford Oasis pool. The following is a short article I wrote about it for another website...

Although I had been a "closet naturist" for almost as long as I can remember; naked at home when it suited me and occasionally walking naked early in the morning when I was out with the dog, I had never been to a naturist event. I did not regard myself as particularly bashful, changing in the communal areas of the council pool was a non-issue, but somehow the idea of going somewhere to spend time with a bunch of naked strangers seemed odd. All these thoughts and more were running through my mind as I sat in my car outside the Oasis pool in Bedford one Saturday evening. It would be easy to simply drive back home, but I felt sure that the next day I'd be kicking myself.

I gritted my teeth, got out of the car and joined the queue waiting for the pool to open. The first thing that struck me was that everyone seemed to know everyone else, all the people in the queue were chatting to the people around them. I started to feel like an outsider, the new kid at school; there’s something very daunting about joining a club full of people who know each other and I’ve never liked being the new guy, a focus of curiosity and attention. Then the guy next to me just started talking about the previous time he'd been to the swim, apparently this was only his second naturist swim and he'd been eagerly anticipating it for the whole of the intervening month. Suddenly the penny dropped; it was not that they were all old friends; they were simply a very friendly bunch of people.

I handed my money over and my new friend immediately took me on a tour of the facilities to show me where everything was. This was the strangest part of the evening; being shown around while fully dressed when everyone else was naked made me feel very out of place, as if all eyes were on the new guy. In retrospect I don't think anyone paid any attention to me at all, it was just me feeling self conscious.

I placed my clothes in a locker then, after taking a deep breath, walked to the pool and hopped in. I initially joined the lazy river so that I could drift around while I got my bearings. I had skinny dipped in the sea and occasionally in rivers before but swimming naked just feels so right that it always takes me by surprise. After a few minutes I'd almost forgotten that I was naked and had completely stopped noticing that other people had no costumes.

The evening was apparently three hours long (my watch seemed to agree with this) but it seemed to be over almost instantly. By the time I'd tried both the flumes a couple of times, well I had to be sure that they really were that much fun, and then used the spa pools, sauna, steam room, had a play in the waves and made about twenty new friends, it became obvious that three hours was simply not long enough.

I left at the end of the evening determined to get back as often as possible. I really can't remember an evening I've enjoyed so much and unlike any other club or group I've joined I did not find myself feeling like an outsider at any time. If you are hesitant about attending a naturist event, bite the bullet and try it, the only regret you'll have is not having done it sooner...

It is such a shame that support for Club Soleil fell away to the point that June and Norman could no longer afford to run it.

Have fun,

Ian