Annual spider invasion already starting

“My parents couldn’t afford to keep buying new clothes every week.

“As soon as school finished I would find some quiet corner where I could strip off. It was a therapeutic way of dealing with all the stress.

“And I love coming here. You come through the gates and for a few magical hours the outside world ceases to exist and is no longer an issue. Everyone is friendly and there’s no judgement. There’s no hidden agenda. It’s not a front for anything else, it is what it is. “I started coming on a Wednesday night four years ago and I always come at least twice a week while in the summer I try to come here every day. My partner is a naturist as well so that helps.”

Steve Davies, 59, who is originally from Crosland Moor but now lives in Wakefield, said: “I’ve been a member here for three years. It’s something I have always wanted to get round to and now I have. I ended up on my own so I thought I would take the plunge.

“It’s a friendly and sociable place and I have never looked back.”

One middle-aged woman from Shelf, who didn’t want to be named, said she was “gobsmacked” by what she had seen.

She said: “It’s an immaculate place. We saw the preview article in the Examiner and thought we would come and take a look and see how other people live. I’m totally gobsmacked at how relaxed and communicative people are.” You come through the gates and for a few magical hours the outside world ceases to exist and is no longer an issue. IT looks like spider season has started several months early as one Huddersfield landlady discovered in the middle of the night.

Sam Watt, who owns The Star Inn, Lockwood, was woken in the small hours by her dog Tilli.

Tilli had spotted this 7cm beast crawling along Sam’s bedroom wall and ceiling and began barking and squeaking at it.

Sam trapped the spider – a large but harmless common house spider – with a glass and a pub menu.

During ‘spider season’ the temperature outside falls and spiders, looking for a warm place to mate, come into people’s homes in greater numbers.

This normally happens well into autumn but it appears to have started several months early.

Sam, who was chair of this year’s Huddersfield Food and Drink Festival, said: “Can you imagine laying in bed and that above you? No wonder the dog went berserk.

“I was extremely brave! I had to be quick to find a glass in case it moved.

“I had to leave it a while – hence the video – as it had given me palpitations.’’

To see the video go to the Examiner website at www. examiner.co.uk