Spectrum Naturist Club – A weekly swim gem!

Having a business rendezvous in Birmingham, we decided to take the chance to visit the superbly rated Spectrum swim, a club based on the south side of Birmingham and one we hadn’t covered previously. The club meets every Saturday evening in the Morris Centre which is the leisure facility for NHS staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Transport to the site is excellent. The University Railway station on the Cross City line is a mere 500 metres away, and a free car park is a similar distance away. For anyone with special needs there’s a disabled car park opposite the Morris Centre. The site is also well served by buses.

On arrival we were met by friendly members of the club and relieved of a mere £5.00 each for the evening. We were shown around and discovered the Centre has a 22 metre pool, two saunas, two squash courts and a large gym. We could be naked everywhere except in the gym. Along the end of a corridor we discovered what is known as the dance studio. This is an important room for the club which becomes a social hub were free refreshments are available at every meeting.

On one Saturday a month the room is used for a naked yoga session and on another tai chi. On a further evening the club has a social evening with a different food theme. Examples have been strawberries and cream, Italian, casseroles and Mexican evening. We were told these evenings are always popular and for an addition entrance charge of three pounds each, sounds like great value too!

We asked about the membership and ambitions of the club and we were told the club has over 150 members and lately more ladies have joined with their partners, although like most clubs, men are in the majority. The weekly attendance varies between 30 and on a busy night 60. The club does not discriminate. We asked if visitors could just turn up at the door and were informed the membership secretary needed to be contacted first. This is due to an agreement with the Centre Management. The one thing the club misses which was available at their previous venue, now demolished, is a steam room. The club are hoping this will be a project for the Centre in time.

The club keeps in touch with its members by email and a monthly newsletter. They also have a presence on Facebook.

Originally the Centre was apprehensive about the club advertising its presence outside the naturist community. The Great British Skinny Dip proved to be a small breakthrough as the club were allowed to advertise the event within the Centre. Not only was that evening a success, there is now a permanent poster about the club on the Centre notice board. There was also a short article about naturism in the Birmingham Evening Mail, which included a mention of the club.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Spectrum and will return at the first opportunity to this super friendly club. If you’d like to visit you will find the club details at www.spectrumclub.org.uk and in the listing inside the BN magazine and on the BN website.

Ron & Elizabeth.