British Naturism is the UK’s internationally recognised organisation for naturism and exists to unite and support naturists, to protect naturist places and provide more, make social nudity more acceptable across the UK and to provide comprehensive information on naturism and naturists around the world.

British Naturism came into being in 1964 when two societies – The British Sunbathing Society and the British Federation of Sun Clubs merged. We are the UK’s only member of the International Naturist Federation (INF), which exists for similar reasons to us, but acting and operating across the world.

British Naturism is a volunteer organisation which means that any members (subject only to a minimum period of membership) can stand for election to the Executive Council, the equivalent of our board of directors. We operate with reference to our constitution, which can be modified and updated at our AGM, at which all members may attend and vote.

BN works hard to raise the public profile of naturism, through media work and by lobbying local and national government.


As mentioned above, the organisation is run by elected volunteers and a small, paid staff at our Head Office in Northampton.

The Executive Council (often referred to as the “EC”) is currently made up of 16 individuals all of whom give their time for free, although they can claim expenses for travel and other items. The EC is our board of management and meets 4 or 5 times a year to discuss the issues, administration, marketing and finance of the organisation, forming strategies and policies as a result. 8 of those elected are regional representatives, one from each of our regions. Only members in that region get to vote for them. The others have a specific area of responsibility - President, Chairman, Vice Chairman, Sports Officer, International Officer, Youth Officer, Public Relations Officer and Research & Liaison Officer and are elected by the membership nationally. All 16 have one vote each at meetings. If it wishes, the EC has the power to co-opt a member if a post is unfilled at election time. Some posts provided for by the constitution are currently unfilled, but the EC has chosen not to co-opt anyone at present. All posts are elected for 2 years with roughly half the posts being elected each year to avoid wholesale change in personnel and ensure some continuity after the AGM.

A Members’ Representative – not an elected post - is appointed by the President to be a point of contact, information and advice to members living in the region they serve. Generally, each region has one, some two, and the Representatives are often people who are on the EC. There is no limit to the time they can serve, in fact, they often only change when a Representative decides not to continue.

In June 2004, we appointed a Commercial Manager to help us to meet the ever-changing needs of our members and to help naturism to thrive in the 21 st Century. The Commercial Manager position is currently provided by an external company on a consultancy basis and the contract will run, at least, until the end of December 2005. In a similar way, we appointed an Advertising Manager to help us to better serve the needs of naturist businesses by giving them opportunities to promote themselves to naturists in the UK through our publications and website and to earn additional revenue to apply to our aims.

Click here for a list of the current officers, representatives and other contacts.