A huge naturist convention that was planned for Coombe Country Park in Coventry in June has been cancelled.

Organisers say they didn’t want the naturists’ event to go off half-cocked. It will instead be held next year.

They had planned to hold a travel fair advertising naturist holidays in a field at the park, which is owned by Coventry City Council.

A larger area was to be screened off for naturists to use. Thousands of vistiors from all over the world were expected to travel to the area for the convention, which was to be the first of its kind in the country.

The event, called Naturist Expo, was scheduled for the weekend of 2-4 June but will now be held between 1-3 June 2001.

Project leader John Chambers said the organisers had run out of time, with too much work remaining in only ten weeks.

He said: 

"This was a very, very reluctant decision.

"But faced with the alternatives of pressing ahead with a Year 2000 weekend that would not be up to the standard we want to set for the Naked Lifestyle shows, or postponing and getting it right for 2001, there wasn’t a choice.

"This will be a breakthrough when it happens, and we want nothing less than a mega success.

"We’ve had a terrific response from all over the country and many internet enquiries from abroad, and we know there will be a lot of disappointed people.

"But we’d much rather stage a fantastic first expo in 2001 than go off half-cocked this summer."