Hello!
What a pleasure to see you all again at the pool in September! The pool reopened three weeks ago and we’re as active as ever. For those who feel the cold more than others, the roof was put back in place on September 22nd and around the poolside it’s nice and warm.
Events in September:
At the beginning of the month, we made the most of the good weather in the naturist park of the Bois de Vincennes with our picnics and yoga classes.
The Associations Fair Day in the 12th arrondissement was a huge success for the ANP this year and we spoke with many people who came to ask for information about our activities. A big thank you goes to Maud, Isabelle and Alain for their help and to other members and even the president of the FFN and her team, plus the Mayor of the 12th arrondissement who all swung by to say hello during the day.
The World Naked Bike Ride didn’t roll as we’d hoped; we were denied the right to protest naked and, at the last moment, the Prefect prevented us from riding clothed! There were loads of journalists who all reported that in Paris one can no longer even protest clothed to save the planet.
The nude hike on September 14th with APNEL was booked out and the hikers were generally happy with the experience.
Throughout the night of Friday 27th, a large number of naturists danced to the grooves of several DJs at the Beautiful Skin dance party.
Upcoming events:
Our next outing is with our Belgian friends. Over the past few weeks, they’ve taken hundreds of reservations for their water park event in Mons on October 5th.
If the weather is kind, we will have two final picnics in the naturist zone of the Bois de Vincennes before the end of the season, on Sunday October 6th and 13th, with classes (gym on the 6th and yoga on the 13th) at 11:30 before the picnic. Note that after October 13th the park will once again become a textile zone for six months, until mid-April.
There are a few places remaining for the soccer match I mentioned last month. It will take place on Thursday October 17th on a football field with no vis-à-vis.
We have pretty well tied up the organisation of the International Swimming Gala. We have a good team of helpers but if you think you can offer even just an hour of your time over the weekend, it would be greatly appreciated.
It’s still possible to reserve a place as a spectator for the day of competition by following this link or for the grand gala evening here.
The second of our monthly workshops will take place at the pool on Wednesday October 23rd at 9pm. Vincent, singing coach, is offering us singing lessons. It’s open to all levels and, as with all our activities, no-one will be judged!
For more information on our outings, please take a look at the events page on our website or send us an email or an SMS on +33 7 66 14 53 09.
Workshops: Thank you Vincent for the work in launching our monthly workshops. The first was a Terpischore massage class run by Bernard and Hervé. If you would like to learn this form of massage that Hervé has been practising on our many members and visitors at the pool this past couple of years, Bernard is offering a special rate to ANP members. For more information, please contact the Terpischore Association at b.o.bemer@gmail.com
October drinks: Come along to our monthly drinks on Monday October 7th. Bring a sweet or savoury dish and your favourite drinks (bottles of water would be well received!) for a moment of conviviality between friends.
Expulsion: You have perhaps heard that our ex vice-president, who was also in charge of social media for the ANP, modified – with no consultation – the passwords and email addresses of our accounts. He thus blocked our access before taking off with our accounts to use them for his own purposes. Following this misappropriation of the association’s social media and after months of his turbulent and inappropriate behaviour, we had no choice other than to vote his exclusion from the association.
Twitter confirmed in an email to me that the account that he renamed “Les Naturistes de Paris” (@NaturistesParis) did indeed belong to the ANP but I nevertheless was unable to retrieve it. If you follow this account, beware that it is no longer the ANP that you are following but a person with bad intentions towards all institutions of the naturist movement. The account, created in May 2017, had over 2900 followers.
He is using this Twitter account but also other accounts (on Twitter and Facebook, as well as the ANP’s YouTube account) with several different names: Naturiste indépendant, ADNF, Cédric Di Vita, Rencontres et Convivialité dans l’Espace Naturiste du Bois de Vincennes, Journée Parisienne du Naturisme, The Naturist Events of France, Paris : location et colocation naturiste…, as well as a Twitter account called Baby Investor (@BabyInvestorFr), dedicated to real estate investment, in which he talks about naturism and uses well-known methods on social media to increase his audience (cross referencing in talking about naturism, massive use of hashtags, “#” and “@”, he “likes” his own posts with his numerous accounts, etc.). Is the goal purely to build his own image for personal enrichment? We can’t say. On some of his accounts, he openly attacks the French Federation of Naturism, the ANP and other organisations. He publishes false information, lies, launches seemingly positive “initiatives” and surveys, which are in fact real attacks.
He has, on many occasions, published photos and videos of people who had clearly refused. He tried, through lies, to create conflict by quoting people as having said things that were never pronounced. Some of his television appearances shocked a great number of naturists, due to the level of dishonesty.
One of his methods consists of posting “information” and removing it quickly. Unfortunately, in this age of “fake news”, these techniques are fairly successful and false information is diffused as much as real.
We don’t know if his sole aim is to destroy. In any case, his behaviour has damaged the ANP, affecting relationships between highly devoted and kind people. Perhaps he wants people to turn their back on the FFN but for what purpose? What are his intentions? To create his own “brand” for financial gain? Do harm for pure pleasure? Divide to rule? We don’t know.
He even invented things about me, with words that never left my lips and we all had a good laugh. Sadly, though, that can create a doubt in the minds of certain people. More than ever, it’s important to be vigilant and sceptic and it’s best to ask us questions directly.
We gave him multiple opportunities to change. We forgave, forgot and let him say and do as he pleased for months.
He launched a campaign against the FFN licence and was spurred on by certain people who are proud to have never purchased one, as they practise naturism only on dedicated beaches. But did you know that these beaches exist thanks to the FFN? Your €23 contribution makes it possible for a real organisation dedicated to naturism to function. On top of including full insurance protecting you during your naturist activities, this licence allows the FFN to negotiate with local government for the creation of new nude zones but also to keep existing zones nude. So, if you think that the licence doesn’t concern you, think again! Whenever you visit a naturist beach, you benefit from the time, energy and money that have been invested so that you can be there in total legality. The same thing applies in all of our neighbouring countries. A naturist beach doesn’t miraculously appear from one day to the next without months, or even years of negotiations between local authorities and a naturist federation. So don’t forget that in buying your licence every year, you’re not throwing money away; you can see the results with your own eyes by heading to one of the multitude of dedicated places in France or elsewhere in the world.
This nasty episode has not diminished the solidarity and harmony within the team that we have built over the years and our meetings have once again become constructive, with our motivation to do our best for the association, our members and our visitors. You all come to the ANP for a moment of relaxation, sport and conviviality and the board members are there for the same reasons. We’re therefore going to strengthen the spirit of friendship and respect that reigns, to create an ANP stronger than ever.
We have created a new Twitter account and a new Facebook group (thank you Patrick!) and we invite you to follow us.
If you think I’m happy about this expulsion, you’re mistaken. He is the first person to be banned from the ANP since 2015, so it’s a heavy decision that we did not take lightly.
We don’t need egos on the board but equals. Success in the non-profit world is only possible when a team is united and that they don’t forget that everything they do is for the durability of the association and the wellbeing of its members. In 50 years, no-one will remember the current board members but I hope that our efforts today will assure the future of the ANP tomorrow.
Thank you all for your support and your fidelity to the Association des Naturistes de Paris.
Naturistly,
Laurent