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Well what a lovely autumn! The trees held onto their leaves quite late, probably thanks to the summer rain we endured, but we’ve had sunshine too!

Our End of Season Ball is always bitter-sweet as it signifies the end of summer, but the fun doesn’t end as the club is open all year and we socialise throughout the winter too.

One of the highlights this year was the BN AGM in October and it was with pride that we welcomed the members to our club. Not only did the pool stay open but it was used both days that weekend and the sun shone throughout! We worked hard to cater for everyone but it was also a pleasure to host the event and meet with the BN officers.

Halloween in Pippin Wood is always a spooky event with witches and demons afoot.

Our Firework night was once again a loud and bright explosive night with Guy Fawkes on the bonfire, food from the barbeque and hot mulled-wine to keep us warm.

Thoughts now turn to Christmas festivities with our Yuletide visit from Father Christmas for the children and a time to gather and look back over the year and then ahead to the next.

Our club is a thriving community and we realise how lucky we are to have so many skills amongst our members who volunteer their time to build, repair, maintain, tidy, feed, clean, entertain and generally keep out club going to make it what it is today; a great place to be all year through for everyone…..but roll on next Spring and come back Summer!

Well what a wet start to our summer, but what a lush effect it had on Pippin Wood and all its greenery! It didn’t stop our members from having a great social time and for those who ignored the weather reports and turned up anyway, there was sun to be had between the showers.

Naturists become great blue-sky spotters and spend hours on the patio pointing out fresh blue bits that are on the way over…….yes, I know, it’s the clouds that are moving but don’t spoil our favourite hobby with technicalities!!

We had our Jubilee celebrations like everyone else and dressed up in red, white and blue for a party with live entertainment to dance the night away.

We have had our regular events, various sports matches, bingo and quiz nights and our Saturday night communal barbeques; even if we did have to eat indoors sometimes!

Luckily the rain eased towards the end of July and we became a true Sun Club once more! Our annual Holiday Week started off the rest of the summer with an Olympic theme. It was good to welcome visitors who brought along tents and tourers to join us for our action packed week for everyone to enjoy. The pool was well used and ice cream sales from the kiosk soared as the temperature rose.

The end of our main season is in sight but the club will remain busy. There is always routine maintenance to do and the woodland to manage. The sauna, wood burning stove and the dart board will keep us warm and entertained through to spring time and

our kitchen managers keep us well fed with a superb range of food!

Membership is on a steady increase and we remain a thriving family orientated club.

We really are a club for all seasons.

Why don’t you come and see for yourselves?

The spring bluebells, primroses and blackthorn blossom are over and the trees are in full leaf now, giving us shade on hot summer days.

We have watched the woodland birds rearing their young and we will spend many a sunny afternoon looking out for visiting Red Kite and various other species, including the occasional passing micro-light, hot air balloon and glider plane, whilst enjoying the peace of being within Pippin Wood. It’s a place to escape the routine of every day life yet never be far from home so no worries of traffic hold-ups or airport strikes! After a very active winter when our team of willing workers built a veranda with wheelchair friendly ramp to the club’s caravan, extended our already large patio to give us even more room to spread our tables and chairs, completely renovated the Gents, laid new paths and generally got the maintenance work done; we will all have time to enjoy the constantly improving facilities we have for our members. This month gives us reason to dress up in red, white and blue and celebrate the Queen’s reign with a street party, live music and dancing. Late July brings us our annual holiday week and we look forward to the whole club enjoying a week of fun and activities catering for all ages. Bring a tent or touring van and share the fun. We are a thriving family orientated club and proud of what we have achieved over the years but we are always looking ahead and constantly upgrading and adding to our facilities so we can offer a heated pool, sports, socials, meals, saunas, friendship and laughter. Phone 07974 303151 to find out more.

“Spring at last and my favourite time of the year here at Blackthorns as the woodland carpet of violets and primroses are joined by the fragrant bluebells and the fresh greenery bursting into leaf on our trees!

The birds are singing and all is well with the world! At least all is well in our own little bit of the world as we lose ourselves in the tranquillity of Pippin Wood.

But, whilst much of the plant life has been resting our members have been working hard: the wheelchair friendly veranda has been completed for the club’s caravan that is for hire; the Gent’s toilet block has been gutted and refurbished to match the quality of the next door Ladies and our south facing patio, directly in front of the clubhouse, has been extended to reach the poolside. This has provided us with much more space in which we can spread out our tables to enjoy the sunshine whilst relaxing over drinks, food and friendly chatter: the favourite pastime of most people here at this club!

The new layout is also wheelchair and baby-buggy friendly. We have members of all ages to consider and we like to make things easier for everyone where we can, which is why we also have a wheelchair accessible WC with a baby changing unit, and a clubhouse for our children’s use; complete with TV and facilities including wi-fi and sufficient sockets for their laptops!

We have had various socials and regular sauna nights to keep us together through the winter period but we always look forward to the return of the warmer sunshine, the re-opening of our outdoor pool and the chance to put our sun-loungers back on the lawn!

Now is the time to take stock of what great facilities we have here: petanque pistes, volley ball, badminton and miniten courts, crazy golf, table tennis and darts, swimming pool, sauna, communal barbeque, ice cream & snacks kiosk, great meals from the kitchen and good company to enjoy all this in.

Topped with the beautiful setting of Pippin Wood giving us a backdrop of leafy trees, birdsong and dappled shade when we choose, it’s near perfection for a naturist club and if I wasn’t already a member I would be asking for an application form this very minute! If you feel the same, give me a ring and arrange a visit with a view to joining us!

Tel. 07974 303 151

Until next time, enjoy the build up to summer!”