By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
A nudist group using a Warragul pool has made it clear that their group is not sexual in nature.
The Metro East Naturist Leisure Association, previously based in Narre Warren, has found itself over-exposed following their current use of the Warragul Leisure Centre for their nudist monthly swim nights.
But the group is at pains to point out that there’s no sex involved.
It is a misconception which founding member Rob Geerling utterly rejects.
“The negative thoughts and all that come about because people don’t inform themselves,” he said.
“They don’t talk to people like me or someone who’s actually in a club, in a committee and ask them all the questions.”
The Warragul Leisure Centre is hired by the group with the approval and awareness of its staff and the Baw Baw Shire Council. Metro East’s code of conduct is also sent to all applicants and outlines the club’s hard-line policy on unacceptable behaviour, inappropriate touching and photography.
Rob classifies Metro East as a family club which undergoes an extensive screening process for new members. Persons 18 and older are eligible to join the group, while parents can also bring their children.
Rob founded the club with his wife, Lily, in 1980 and said that while outsiders considered the idea of nudism strange, Metro East members found nothing more natural.
“When you’re at a nudist club, you are nude but you never seem to talk about it. You talk about other things,” he said.
“We’re not the Ritz, we’re not a strip club, we’re just a club where people happen to be nude.”
For the President of Metro East, Alan*, there is a freedom afforded to nudism that cannot be attained elsewhere.
“When you’re naked and you associate with other people, all social status disappears,” he said.
“We have members from all different walks of life in the club.”
Alan said that while the current membership only totalled around 20, there were more and more guests who came along to trial the swim nights and ended up enjoying them.
“The club was falling apart, it was losing members, it was costing a fortune and they kept putting the admission prices up,” he said.
“Then I came along and I said no, this is no good, you’re killing the club, number one the price has got to come down and we have to attract more people.”
But while Metro East is always on the lookout for new members, Rob and Alan emphasise the importance of having a very strict selection process.
Emily*, 19, was brought along to the club when she was 10 by her mother, Liz*. Nine years later, Liz uses the club’s monthly swims as a means to relax from the busy working week, while Emily attributes the club with giving her self-confidence.
“I kept it away from a lot of my friends because I was scared of being judged but people that I have told, they’re like ‘oh really?’ but never ‘how could you do that?’
“It builds a lot of confidence for me, and I was bullied a lot at school for the way I looked and stuff and I guess that’s helped me a lot.”
Rob says Metro East has had a positive influence on the other members and recalls why he started the group in the first place 30 years ago.
“That gives me a very proud feeling, because I’m the one who created that, that atmosphere where people come to enjoy themselves and relax,” he said.
*Some members quoted in this article did not want their surname published.
