The International Naturist Federation recently celebrated its 70th anniversary, quite naturally at the Centre Hélio-Marin in Montalivet, where the INF-FNI was created in 1953.
123 people, from 23 federations, participated in the gathering. After six weeks of rather bad weather, the gods of naturism smiled on the INF-FNI it was nice and warm throughout the event.
After a day of welcomes and the distribution of bracelets designed for the 70th anniversary, we met at 6pm in front of La Cave du CHM bottle shop for the official welcome drinks, where we tasted a large selection of local wines from the Lassagne vineyard, owners of the cellar. The conviviality and friendship that reigned throughout the weekend began here, with wonderful encounters between naturists of different nationalities, all united by the naturist spirit.
During the mornings of Friday and Saturday, we organised conferences in the Hexagon of the CHM – the project of the new statutes (Edwin Kilby, Vice-President Secretary of the INF-FNI), the modernisation of membership (Christo Bothma, President of SANNA – South African Naturist Federation – and Assessor of Asia, Africa and Oceania at INF-FNI), the History of world naturism by Bruno Saurez and a discussion on the challenges encountered by some people in naturism.
During the afternoons of Friday and Saturday, the Club du Soleil Bordeaux Côte d’Argent put on some great presentations of everything they do at the CHM each year and the association which manages the former residence of Christiane and Albert Lecocq – today a museum – opened the doors to us and spoiled us with a good aperitif in the sun.
On Saturday at 6 p.m., we all gathered in front of the INF-FNI monument for the consecration of the new 70th anniversary plaque, offered by the CHM and presented by the director, Olivier Testard.
From there, we went to the Bistrot Gourmand for an absolutely unforgettable evening – aperitif, dinner, commemorative cake (to which a few federations generously contributed), followed by a dancing evening. All in naturist mode, of course!
On Sunday, we took a large group to the Montalivet market for a tasting of Médoc oysters, after which people said their goodbyes.
The INF-FNI team looks forward to serving you for the next 70 years!
Thank you for all your hard work.