RnR will be headingh off to the Manchester WNBR on saturday and no doubt other ANW members will be there - and yet more will be taking part in other rides around the globe over the next few months. 

With this in mind I would like people to revisit this topic. 

For those that do take part in the WNBR's how positive are these events and do you feel they sell naturism? Is there an irony (like politicians flying in personal jets to environmental summits) that some people will travel hundreds of miles to be involved in these events?

Can we have fun as naturists without being too bogged down with the meaning of the "protests"?

We have actually had organisers from various rides around the world tell us that naturism is nothing to do with WNBR's and actually ask us to not promote their events or mentuion them on the site! 

Would these rides exist at all if it wasn't for the excuse of a little bit of naturism in town centres - maybe as the WNBR's have passed their peak of attendence and number of rides across the globe it would be better for them to encourage a stronger link to naturism. 

And how about naturism creating its own bike ride day. Where on a specific day around the globe naturists take to their bikes in their own towns and raise awarness of naturism with other local riders. 

Lots of naturists organise swims, runs and walks for charities  - do these help promote naturism? Yes they are hopefully great fun and also raise cash for worthy causes - so I am not saying they should not exist - but do they also serve a purpose for naturism?

Are we missing out on a positive way to introduce people to naturism and also show society that we not only care but we are also just a group of ordeinary people doing something totally unshocking and everyday normal. Are we harvesting these events as successfully as we could? 

Are are national bodies for example setting up stalls at these events (as the RSPB or the National Trust may do) to hand out leaflets about naturism and also encourage new membership? 

I know last year RnR handed out some ANW bookmarks at the WNBR event in Manchester. These events are ideal opportunities to promote ANW and naturism and national bodies and local (to the bike ride) clubs. Both to riders who may be thinking "I love this and want more" and to spectators who may be thinking "I wish I had the guts to get naked in public" and require information and inspiration. 

What do you think? 
      
  

We will be there in Manchester tonight, so why?

Firstly, we are avid conservationist and believers in rewilding, which we feel is the way to help direct resources into creating a better environment for all. Air quality is an issue for walkers, takers and cyclist in all our major cities, and cycling is good for everyone’s health. We cycle a lot, and Rob in particular has owned a bike for almost all of his life.

In recent years there has been a wing of WNBR’s that have taken on the body positive message as it is a known fact, that the textile industry is the second largest polluter on the planet. Nudity is a clear and strong message against that, the less we wear, the better for the planet.

In our mind, both of these causes run side by side, and so when we link that to social naturism, for us it is a win, win, situation. For us, the ride is also about the gathering of naturist friends who all hold similar ideals to us, we love the natural world and want to protect it, so as a group, we meet, socialise, use body paint to get our message out there and then we ride. To a degree, it is a combination of the above, and a very fun social aspect of our naturist life.

Tonight, in Manchester there will be a split of hard core environmentalists and naturists all uniting to share a cause, our opinions differ slightly, but our objectives are the same, cleaner air, safer roads, and a more beautiful environment for all.

Does naturism need to be more open and talking to the public to get our message out there? YES.

Do our national organisations need to actually start looking outward, and get back to campaigning to get the real truth of naturism to the public, and burst all the myths that surround us? YES THEY DO!

If national organisations put 10% of the effort they put into producing and promoting events back into the campaign trail targeted at real information about naturism, we would be able to convince more people that it is okay to be naked, and not feel shamed by an ignorant public. We had quite a few stops, on last years ride, and on all of them, we engaged what was actually a really positive and curious public. We talked to them, and they listened, so does naturism need to do more of that? We feel they do.

There is too much hiding and not enough people willing to take the message out there, so if there was a ride for naturism to get a positive word out there, we would ride on it.

"Do our national organisations need to actually start looking outward, and get back to campaigning to get the real truth of naturism to the public, and burst all the myths that surround us? YES THEY DO!

If national organisations put 10% of the effort they put into producing and promoting events back into the campaign trail targeted at real information about naturism, we would be able to convince more people that it is okay to be naked, and not feel shamed by an ignorant public." 

The silly thing is that this is surely their job and why people take out memberships - and if this happened (at all or more effectively) then not only would more people get it but also more people would become naturists - which in turn means more people would attend events, join clubs and just get out there - and then that will in turn will encourage more people to do the same. To me the national bodies have two very important and clear purposes - promote naturism and support the naturist opportunities available- this is what builds naturism in society and what allows naturists to connect and have places to go to meet. This is what Steve and I are trying to do in our small (but global) way with ANW - each national (or regional) association needs to do this. Nurture the naturist opportunities out there work with them to create an annual calendar that offers year around interest, promote these clubs, venues and events to their members and then work at encouraging more people to try naturism and understand naturism on a national scale. The local clubs and opportunities should be doing the same but from local to national. So they should be raising awareness out side of their national bodies umbrella, encouraging people to get involved with them and then pushing them onto the national body. 

This can be done in lots of ways but we feel ANW offers one ideal way as we have a community right here waiting to find their local opportunities and national bodies (as well as holiday fun) - by being here they have already stated they are interested in naturism - so all they need now is enticing in the right direction.