Issue 22 - Travellers' Times

Issue 22 / Winter 2005Travellers’TimesAnother Day –Another EvictionPhoto: Jason Hurst, Welwyn & Hatfield TimesFamilies at Twin Oaks Caravan Park nearSouth Mimms were evicted by bailiffsConstant and Constant on January 5 afterHertsmere Borough Council promised to"take firm action unless the site is vacated".Police from Potters Bar, who attended theeviction, said two arrests had been made.Later one man was charged with causingaffray.“The police role in this operation was toassist the Council and the bailiffs who werecarrying out the actual eviction,” saidSuperintendent Iain McVie. “The operationpassed with the minimum of protest andresistance,” he added.But one woman at the eviction wept as shetold Travellers’ Times: “The police blockedoff the roads to stop anyone getting in. Eventhe Gypsy representative couldn’t get in.When the trouble started one woman wasdragged along the ground.“Three ambulances were called but the menwere afraid to go in them because they didnot want to leave their families.”Police said the road had been cordoned inorder to control traffic.A spokesman for Hertsmere Council saidthat £150,000 had been allocated to coverthe cost of the eviction.Inside:Speaking out p2 & 3Unfair play p5Fair copp5Young art p6 & 7Health risk – shock reportGypsies and Travellers are more than twiceas likely to suffer bad health than the settledcommunity. They also have higher rates ofmiscarriages, stillbirths and infant mortality.According to a shock new report, Gypsiesand Travellers find it more difficult to get adoctor, too.The startling statistics are revealed in areport to the Department of Health calledThe Health Status of Gypsies and Travellersin England. (See Jake Bowers’ Healthworries, page 8).The report says many Gypsies andTravellers find it hard to get good healthcare and says the reluctance of some GPsto register Travellers or visit sites adds to theproblem.A spokeswoman for the General MedicalCouncil said they were not aware of anyproblem. “If a Gypsy or Traveller did feel theywere being discriminated against they shouldcomplain to their local Primary Care Trust,”she said.But Gypsy health campaigner, RichardO’Neill, said the report “gives us the facts todemand that the government doessomething to change the situation”.Have you experienced problems with yourhealth services? Let us know at Travellers’Times.Don’t diep8Visit the Travellers’ Times website: www.travellerstimes.org.uk

National & Local NewsGypsies & Travellers speak outIn November an all-party Commons Committee saidthe government should: Make councils provide more sites; Create a Gypsy and Traveller Task Force; Reject local plans that fail to make provisionfor sites; Give extra money to councils that provide sites.Something must be done –Janie Codona“It’s almost a year since the eviction of the families atMeadowlands. And where are those people now? Camped out forChristmas up and down the side of the roads on illegal sites. Twelvemonths on and we’re no further forward.“My heart says this would be a good idea, but my head says: Howwill we ever get them to agree to this? Unless they are forced to act,Councils, as we’ve seen, will do nothing.“I’d welcome the Task Force if it was Gypsy inclusive. But it’s nogood setting up a Task Force with people who have no idea aboutGypsy life.”As they prepared for Christmas Cliff and Janie Codona were alsopreparing to be evicted from their Woodside home. “It’s not just forus, is it?” asked Janie. “It’s for our children and their children.Something has to be done.”Travellers’TimesTravellers’ Times is the national magazine devoted to helpingGypsies and Travellers and people and organisations whowork with Gypsies and Travellers to share information,contacts, news and views.We try to be accurate and fair, and apologise in advance forany errors outside our control.Research and picture editor: Hilary Smallwood. EditorialAssistant: Barbie Smith. Design: Chris White. Editor: BillLaws.Send stories, pictures and ideas for the Spring 2005 issue ofTravellers’ Times by March 1. Letters and emails to Travellers’Times, The Rural Media Company, Sullivan House, 72-80Widemarsh Street, Hereford HR4 9HG.travellerstimes@ruralmedia.co.uk 01432 344039.Fax 01432 270539Back copies of Travellers’ Times?Visit www.travellerstimes.org.ukTravellers’ Times is supported by the National Lottery Fund.The Rural Media Company is a registered charity (number1041335; in Wales 2732325). Company limited by guarantee.Printed by Reprodux Printers Ltd., Hereford 01432 269341www.ruralmedia.co.uk01432 344039It’s a cop out – Bridie Jones“I pay my council taxes and yet here they are using the money tothrow my people off their own land. This report is a cop out – it doesus no favours whatever.“The Government needs to make it a law for councils to provideproper sites – not just transit sites. They should give councils a timelimit in which to provide sites. And they should allow Gypsies andTravellers to stay where they are until the Councils do so.”In September Bridie and children from the Gypsy and Irish Travellercommunity, above, delivered a letter of protest to Prime MinisterTony Blair. Bridie and the children, Joseph, John, Libby, Bernadette,and Mary Rose live on different sites including an unauthorised one.The letter, from the Gypsy and Traveller Law Reform Coalition, askedthe Government to provide more sites.“If things don’t change for the better what kind of a future will thesechildren have?”It’s not right – Paddy Ward“We’re homeless and now we’re fighting toget our own land back.“Councils should do something about this. Ifthey had to build council houses on GreenBelt land they’d do it; if they had to build themon the moon they’d do it!Forced onto car park.“But here we are still fighting. One councilloris getting up a petition against us. It’s just not right.”Paddy and his family were evicted from their own land nearBulkington last year. The family was forced to move onto a car parkin the middle of the village.It’s a waste of time – John“Things are going to have to change. But this is awaste of time. The councils have had plenty of time todo something about this and they’ve done nothing.“What we’ve done has never cost the council a penny.The Council are taking our money off us with the polltax and yet we are not asking them for anything.“They won’t leave us alone. They are terrifying us.”The families bought a field, Norton Side Park, nearEckington, Worcestershire which they moved on to lastOne of theEckingtonchildrenyear. Their application for planning was refused and they lost anappeal against the decision. Now they have been told they must go.“We have no intention of moving from here – we’ll fight tooth and nail,”promised John.Photo: Simon Evans2 Travellers’ Times Issue 22 / Winter 2005

MPs have called on councilsto set aside land for sites.Gypsies and Travellers givetheir reaction to the news.A welcome idea – Mary Robb“We are human beings, yet we’re treated like second-classcitizens. But at the end of the day we have to have somewhere tolive so I welcome the idea.“We have said we are willing to move if the Council would find ussomewhere to live in place of our own land. Our grandchildren arein school. They’re getting the education we never had – peoplehave to learn to read and write.”Last summer Mary’s husband Peter was gaoled for breakingplanning law. The Robbs are one of an estimated 100 families inEngland and Wales facing prison sentences for breaking planninglaw. Taken from court in a wheel chair – he suffers from rheumatoidarthritis – Peter Robb served eleven days in prison. Mary hasherself had two strokes.Councilsshould facefines – GregYates“Something like this must besupported by cash and thereneeds to be someone tooversee the standards ofsites – no-one should beexpected to live on bad localauthority sites – we don’t want a few bits of wasteland under thepylons.“This must have the weight of the law behind it. There should bea time limit on providing sites and if local authorities do notprovide sites they should be taken to court. And they should facefines if they fail to make provision for Gypsies and Travellers intheir regional plans, too.“The proposed site size of 18 pitches is too large. We need more,and smaller, sites.”Greg Yates (above) outside the Appeal Court in London after hisvictory in the Clearwater case. The Yates have fought through thecourts to stay on their on land at Clearwater, West Ashling sincethey were refused planning permission in 2001. Last Septemberthree Appeal Court judges ruled in their favour. “I did what I did formy family,” said Greg later. “But the spin-off of my case is that it willsupport other Travellers.”Fighting fire with fireBridie Bowers was one of 70Gypsies, Travellers andsupporters at the first GypsyBonfire Society event nearLewes in East Sussex. TheSociety was formed aftercharges against twelvepeople, arrested in thenearby village of Firle forburning effigies of a Gypsyfamily in a caravan, weredropped.Other newsGloucestershireA planning inspector has found in favour of a Gypsy mother andher three daughters at a Gloucestershire site. Overturning thedecision of Stroud District Council, the inspector said there werearound 79 unauthorised Gypsy caravans in the county.Stroud planners meanwhile were to consider a planningapplication from a group of Travellers on land at Hardwick nearGloucester. Planning officers were recommending acceptance.. . . down she goesA 28-day suspended prison sentence has been passed onmother-of-three Shirley Smith for staying on her land, Cider AppleOrchard near Churcham, Gloucestershire. If she fails to move fromthe site by February 14, “then down she goes,” announced atriumphant Forest of Dean spokesman, Tony Wisdom.Earlier Mr Wisdom told Travellers’ Times: “As far as we areconcerned they are no different to anyone else – they haveoccupied the land without permission.” Mrs Smith, he added wasnot a Gypsy or a Traveller. Gypsies, he said, were people withnomadic habits who have recourse to the district. “Mrs. Smith islooking for a permanent base,” he said.SomersetFamilies who bought a field and moved on to the land near thevillage of North Curry were bracing themselves for eviction aftertheir planning application was turned down by Taunton DeaneBorough Council.DevonPlans by Devon County Council to set up four transit sites inDevon have been rejected by residents living near the proposedsites. A series of consultation days, organised by the Council, hadto be abandoned after objections from Devon people.CambridgeshireFamilies on plots at Smithy Fen near Cottenham were awaiting thenext move by South Cambridgeshire District Council after theyrefused to leave their homes. The Council said it would take noaction until after the outcome of a planning inquiry.WiltshireTravelling families at Minety will have their planning appeal heard onFebruary 1. The hearing is expected to last four days. Last summera High Court judge stopped North Wiltshire District Council fromevicting the families because of the suffering it would have caused.MorayCouncillors at Moray have given a ten-year, temporary planningconsent to a Traveller couple after nearly 300 villagers petitionedthe Council to allow the pair to stay in their horse drawn wagon onland at Urquhart, near Elgin in Scotland.Stop evictionsA plea to halt all evictions of Gypsies and Travellers markedHuman Rights Day in December. The National Travellers ActionGroup and the National Association of Gypsy Women issued thejoint appeal last year. More evictions are expected later thisspring.Issue 22 / Winter 2005Travellers’ Times3

Travellers’ TalkOn the verge of a breakthroughLen Smith – let your heads rule, not your emotions.Because I had some schooling, and couldread and write tolerably well, I got the jobof filling in everyone’s forms, writing andreading letters and I got a reputation forbeing ‘scholared’ though I was really farfrom that.A lot has happened since those earlydays – the 1968 Caravan Sites Act forinstance, which caused a lot of furore inmy area, with public indignation at whatmy local site would cost being a majortopic in the local papers.But this is now, and we currently face avolatile situation. Frustration at the failurePhoto: Anne Ruffellto implement the provisions of circular 1/94,which was intended to have a compensatoryeffect on the repeal of the duty on councilsto provide sites, has pushed many familiesinto moving onto their own land andapplying for retrospective planning. Naturalpopulation increase, coupled with loss ofmany traditional stopping places to urbansprawl, road widening etc., has resulted intravelling families being forced to useunsuitable places to stop.All this has raised the hostility threshold ofthe racist gutter press, and made it difficultfor us to press for law reforms for Gypsiesand Travellers. The Gypsy and Traveller LawReform Coalition (G&TLRC) was formedsome two years ago to bring all travellinggroups together, under a common banner,recognising our common needs and hopes,and to lobby for changes in legislation.From the Traveller Law Reform unit at CardiffLaw School came the TLR Bill, which theCoalition has promoted tirelessly. We’vemade advances within Parliament, with EarlyDay Motions and the formation of an All-Party Group. Through the Commission forRacial Equality, we’ve promotedamendments to the Housing Act, which aSelect Committee of MPs supported, andrecommended reinstatement of the duty toprovide sites and to help with planningmatters.I sincerely feel that we are on the verge of abreakthrough, in spite of a lukewarm responsefrom government.New legislation is one thing, but we are alsocurrently having to face the trauma of evictionsfrom our own land, and from unauthorisedstops. It is tempting to resist such evictions withbarricades and physical resistance. However,such tactics only mean that the message is lost,and the violence gets reported instead. Thecurrent tactic of employing large numbers ofbailiffs at evictions, so as to raise the costs toimpossible levels and then confiscate the landas payment, can only be beaten by moving offbefore eviction date. That way, the land is stillowned, and may become viable again in thefuture.Can I make this plea to all those who faceeviction – let your heads rule, not youremotions. “He who livesto run away, lives to fightanother day” might goagainst our naturalcourage as Gypsies,but it’s the wisestpath.Read a review ofLen’s new book,Romany Nevi-Wesh, in ournext issue.Letters & EmailsProud cultureThis country has been made up of many diverse indigenouscultures for centuries, and in recent times we have witnessed in thestreets and on the media what the destruction and neglect of aculture results in. Take the miners or the fishermen for example:they were once proud cultures, just like the Gypsies and Travellersof this country. But where are the children of these proud culturesnow? We see on the media where they are, living a life with noidentity which has resulted in social decline, the loss of pride, and theinfestation of drugs. Is this country going to allow this to happen toanother one of Britain’s proud cultures? I hope and pray not.John Mercer, Gypsy AdvocateShe’s not the firstLivia Jaroka is not the first ever Gypsy MEP (Travellers’ Times issue21). This honour falls to the Spanish Calo (Gitano) member of thecortez juan de dios raminez heredia Montoya who was an MEPduring the late 1980s. It needs to be pointed out that not all of usRomani are Roma but some, like the Romanbichals in the UK andthose that went to other countries from these isles are not Romabut of the greater Sinti group. It is high time that this issue is settledand maybe a publication like yours could do so instead of followingthe false guidance of self-appointed experts. I do not just speak formyself here but if given the chance I am sure I am speaking for thegreat majority of Romanbichals, Sinti, RomPolska and (kale) whoare fed up with being labelled Roma just because it suits somepeople. All Roma are Romani-Gypsies but not ALL Romani-Gypsies are Roma.Latcho drom, Michael SmithIsland dreamI wish I could do something to help when I see the people beingevicted from their homes. I’m lucky I own my tiny home, and theislanders have no bad words to say about me. I must admit Iwould love to move south nearer my family in mid-Wales. Moneydoesn’t allow, sadly. My da was a Boswell. I spent most of myyouth on the move. I’ve been here for four years – that’s thesecond longest I ever stayed in one place. Lord it’s hard when,in the spring, that need to take to the road gets the bloodstirring.Toni, Orkney IslesSend your letters to Travellers’ Times (address on page 2), or phone us on 01432 344039.4 Travellers’ TimesIssue 22 / Winter 2005

Tackling DiscriminationNo fun at the fairTewkesbury Council won a Governmentaward for their ‘postive partnerships withTravelling people’. Now they are evictingseventeen Showman families.“What do the Council think we’re going to do? We haven’t got a Plan Bhere.”Shady Scarret has just come back from running his stall at Tewkesbury.He’s made his usual donation to the Round Table Fireworks Fund. He doesso every year.But next year he may not be able to help out, because TewkesburyBorough Council is evicting him, his family and 16 other families from theirown land near Gotherington outside Cheltenham.He and another resident, Lena Mason, talked to Travellers’ Times.Lena: “We’re members of the Showman’s Guild and every year in May weleave here and travel independently to shows around the country.“Three of my four children are in the local school. When we travel we useDistance Learning Packs which give the children the next two weeks’ work.That way the children always keep up. When we come back in September,the children can’t wait to get back to school.”Shady Scarrett’s own education wasn’t up to much. “I left at 11,” says theforty-year-old.“We’ve been here for three years and this is the first time our children haveenjoyed school. I don’t want my kids to be unable to read and write andthat’s what’s going to happenif we are pushed off here.”Lynn Mitchell, headmistress ofthe children’s school, iscritical of TewkesburyCouncil’s decision. “To disruptthe children’s education whenit’s not necessary seems to bea crime. Their parents aresupportive and very muchpart of the community. It willbe a great loss to this school.”Lorraine Cooper is a mother at the school. She has written to theCouncil to protest.“This is an appalling travesty of justice and a clear example ofdiscrimination and abuse of human rights. These people own theland they are occupying; they pay tax and have a strong senseof community too, which is more than can be said for those inour local community who have pushed for this decision,” shesays.Lena: “We don’t have anybody against us in the community.We’ve provided our own sites with no help from outside. We arenot asking for help – we just want to be able to stay here.”Shady again: “I was born in a wagon. I’ve never stayed in ahouse in my life and I’m not planning to move into one now.“It’s funny: people come to the fairs. They welcome the fairs. Butwe’ve got to live somewhere. And we’ve got to have somewherewhere the kids are safe and can get a good schooling.“The future is bleak. But I’ll tell you what: I’m not going to movemy family on to the side of the road.”Fair copMeet Steve Dean. A police constablefor 29 years, he’s protected primeministers and royalty and workedwith the Crime Squad. Oh yes – andhe’s a Gypsy.As a Metropolitan Police officer Steve Dean has done duty atBuckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street. Now he trains policedog handlers and runs a police dog breeding programme.“Both grandparents on my mother’s side were true Travellers. MyGrandfather was Samuel Kemp, born on a refuse tip on hismother’s fifteenth birthday.“As a child myself I spent summers in the Kent hop fields beforemoving on to other field work, spuds, cherries, blackcurrants. Imissed out on a fair bit of proper schooling, but what a life!“My Mum married a gorgio. My Dad, fortunately, has a love oftravelling people only rivalled by Travellers themselves. I have alwaysmade a point of advertising my travelling ancestry. We have madethe annual trip to Appleby Fair (and witnessed anti-Gypsy attitudesfrom the police). But I’m proud of my heritage and have learnt to siftgenuine prejudice from genuine light-hearted mickey taking.“Like a lot of kids I was no angel. I came into contact with the localpolice and, to be honest, they were very fair with me. One chanceI was given could have resulted in me receiving a police record thatwould have prevented me from joining the police service. It goes toshow that we all deserve a chance.“While I was at school I visited the police cadet school at Hendon,liked the look of it and applied to join. They accepted me.“I see no reason whyGypsies and Travellersshould not be members ofthe police service. Myexperience is that it’seasier to combat prejudicefrom within than fromoutside.“I have experienced racistbehaviour by policeofficers but only when Ihave been out of uniform.There was one incident inAppleby (the policeofficer’s face was a picturewhen I produced mypolice warrant card). I alsorecall being out with my father in a breaking cart with a younghorse new to the harness. I was riding outside of the cart ready tosteady the horse when a police car drove very close, clearly tryingto spook the horse and the officer shouted out some derogatorycomments about pykies.“But given the opportunity, 99% of my colleagues are willing toaccept that, just like any other group of people, there’s good andbad, honest and dishonest, clean and dirty. Once the topic hasbeen broached, many take a defensive position with commentslike: ‘Ah yes, but you come from real Gypsy stock’ – whatever thatmeans.“My message to young Gypsies and Travellers who may bethinking about a career in the police is to go for it. You may lose afew friends but you will make ten times as many friends both withinyour own community and within the police service.”If you want to talk to Steve Dean about joining the police forceyou can write to Steve through Travellers’ Times.Issue 22 / Winter 2005 Travellers’ Times5

Picture Thisfocuses on the gifts aAdam Reec Atkinson Age 10Runner up 6-10’sA big thank you goes out to everyonewho entered our drawing and paintingcompetition. The standard was very highand there was a good selection ofdifferent topics covered. It was a joy tosee all the different kinds of drawings.Jentina would like to say that: “It was avery hard decision for me to make asthey were all really good!”With more than 200 drawings andpaintings from young Travellers to chosefrom, celebrity star Jentina Rose had adifficult job choosing a winner. But choseshe did. And here they are.Megan Age 3Runner up 0-5’sTyrone Warner Age 7Runner up 6-10’sElisha Age 5Winner 0-5’sLucy ClarkeAge 4Runner up 0-5’s6Travellers’ TimesIssue 22 / Winter 2005

nd imaginations of young TravellersNathan Smith Age 8Winner 6-10’sKathleen Age 11Runner up 11-16’s7Patience Buckley Age 14Winner 11-16’sPagan Chanel AtkinsonAge 11Runner up 11-16’sIssue 22 / Winter 2005 Travellers’ Times7

Health & WelfareDon’t die in a FIREFire Safety Officer Neil Pigott visits residents at Luston in the West Midlands1You’re nine times more likely to die ina trailer fire than in a house fire.It’s the smoke that kills – not theflames. And your pets won’t wake youeither.Make an escape plan for everyoccupied sleeping area in the trailer.Make sure everyone on board knowsit. Make sure all hinges and windowcatches work and aren’t seized up.Health worriesGood health is harder for Travellers – Jake BowersMeynalls Gorse Gypsy Site in Leicester istypical of Britain’s 350 council-ownedGypsy sites.But finding a health worker shuttlingbetween its caravans, weighing babiesand reading appointment letters, is a veryrare sight indeed.Lynne Hartwell, head of the TravellingFamily Service operated by Leicester CityWest’s Primary Care Trust, is one of only ahandful of specialist Traveller HealthVisitors in the country. “Access to healthcare is a fundamental human right thateveryone in this country is entitled to,” shesays.But as Hartwell goes from caravan tocaravan, the site residents all have storiesto tell about how that human right hasbeen denied. All say they haveexperienced hostility and discrimination atthe hands of receptionists, health visitorsand GPs. But of Lynne and her colleaguesthey have nothing but praise.“Wherever I am I’ll either ring them up or I’llask them to come and see me. Because Itrust them,” says Romani woman JuliePrice. “And if they moved, I’d follow them!”The relationship between Gypsies and thehealth service hasn’t always been sogood.“When me kids was little, health workersused to be really ignorant,” remembers2 3Margaret Smith. “They’d say we don’t wantto look at you, go to another doctor’. On oneoccasion we had to get the police out to forcea doctor to look at my sister’s little boy thathad meningitis.” Such experiences are justthe dramatic tip of an iceberg ofdiscrimination the community says it stillsuffers from. It has had a huge effect onGypsy and Traveller health. But until recently,no-one knew exactly how big that effect hadbeen.In the winter of 2002, academics from theUniversity of Sheffield’s School of Health andRelated Research (ScHARR) began the firstnational study into Gypsy and Travellerhealth. Funded by the Department of Health,with researchers working in partnership withGypsies and Travellers, they have looked indetail at the health of Gypsies and Travellers.“We interviewed 293 Gypsies and Travellersacross five locations in England,” says one ofthe report’s authors, Professor Glenys Parry.“Of these, 260 were compared to a similarperson, including British people from White,Pakistani, and Black Caribbean ethnicgroups in urban and rural environments. Themain finding was that Gypsies and Travellershad much worse health than people living insimilar situations.”The research found that health problemsamongst Gypsies and Travellers are betweentwo to five times more common than in theFit a smoke detector.Smoke alarms with ‘hush buttons’ arebest as you can silence them eachtime you burn the toast!Health concerns: John and Betty Ayres talk withhealth researcher Patrice van Cleemput.settled community. Gypsy Travellers are alsomore likely to be anxious and suffer fromasthma, bronchitis and chest pain. They arealso more likely to suffer from miscarriages,stillbirths, the death of young babies andolder children.For Gypsy health campaigner, RichardO’Neill, the report provides much neededdocumentation of the community’s badhealth.“This is the first survey to really look at Gypsyand Traveller health in a way that thegovernment can’t ignore because it hasbeen funded by the government and writtenby some very well-respected experts. It givesus the facts to demand that the governmentdoes something to change the situation.”Armed at last with solid science, O’Neill isdetermined to do something about the issue,including developing training for everyPrimary Care Trust in the country.For a copy of the health report and a CDabout the report, see below.Photos: Hilary SmallwoodHealth of Gypsy Travellers in England is available from Trudy Coldwell, University of Sheffield, 0114 222 0817t.coldwell@sheffield.ac.uk www.shef.ac.uk/scharr Click on publications.A CD produced by the Gypsy Media Company for Sheffield University on the report is available from the same address.For information on Traveller-led cultural awareness seminars: www.thegypsymediacompany.co.uk8 Travellers’ Times Issue 22 / Winter 2005

Learning and cultureSchool’s out!Over 12,000 young Travellers areboycotting secondary school.Travellers’ Times asks them why?More Travellerteachers – Joe“More Traveller children would go to school ifthey knew their teachers are there to help,” saysJoe Wilson, a Year 10 pupil at Weald SecondarySchool in West Sussex.Joe spends one day a week in school, one day with a tutor and twoat college on a bricklaying course. “I would like to see Travellerteachers in schools – then maybe they might learn some of ourculture and ways.”We need school – Carolann“I think school is good because you can get a good job for whenyou are older. And all Travellers should go to school,” says 12-yearoldCarolann Loveridge. “I go to Cottenham Village College – I’m inYear 8 – and I really enjoy it here.“My mum and dad think I should come here so my brothers and mecan get an education,” says Carolann who, last year, won a talentcontest for her singing.School’s cool – Elizabeth“I enjoy school and I am doing very well. I hope more children likeme would try to persuade others to take up education,” saysTraveller Elizabeth Gatehouse. “School’s cool.”Conference report –from nine-year-oldMargaretI went with my Aunty Violet to the Gypsy and Traveller Law ReformCoalition (G&TLRC) annual meeting in London. I heard a womancalled Kay Beard. She was very passionate about what she said.Then Lord Avebury spoke about laws that were going to be passedfor Gypsies and Travellers. I hope they go ahead.Lord Avebury said it was very nice to meet me and shook my hand.Aunty Violet made sure my hair was down for the picture, soeveryone could see how long it was. She kept brushing and stylingit in between pictures.Then Aunty Violet took me to see a great activist. His name was LenSmith. I really liked him, but he kissed me on the cheek and I gotladged and run away to my Granny.A little Irish lass wanted to know if there would be a site for her tolive on when she got older. My Granny said by rights we shouldhave sites now, if more Travellers stuck up for themselves.Aunty Violet spoke about when she was little, about how the campsshe used to stop on aren’t there any more. Everyone clapped. Itmade me really proud of her.I asked her what an Activist was. She said someone who talks longand loud enough to get our rights heard and changed. I definitelywant to be one of them when I get older. I can talk for ages.Gypsy girl helped me –Shekinah“My relations have never been to school. I go tohigh school for two days a week for two hours inthe afternoon. In Middlewich they are doing aspecial scheme to encourage Gypsy children to beeducated.” Eleven-year-old Shekinah Clee says a Gypsy girl whoworks with the High School has helped her a lot.We don’t want school– TinamarieTinamarie Cole, now 18, was educated on hersite. “It was fine,” she says. “Just me and mybrother. I went to infants’ school, but that was it.Being Travellers, we like to stay at home: we don’twant to go to school. If I had children I’d bring them up the sameway too: that’s the way it is for Travelling people.”(“I’d love to hear from other Travellers of my age to talk about whatthey get up to,” says Tinamarie.)My sister’s shield – Kathleen“My sister, Mary McDonagh, is 11 years old. She was presentedwith a shield by her school for best behaviour and good work,” says16-year-old Kathleen.TES do a good job – David BellDavid Bell is Chief Inspector of Schools. “Last year we launched theOfsted report stating that Traveller children linger on the peripheryof the education system. Our findings suggested that TravellerEducation Services do a great job in many cases but there stillneeds to be a concerted effort from local and central government toaddress this issue.”Highly active: Nine-year-old Margaret Violet Cannon with Lord Avebury: “I want to bean Activist when I’m older.”UpdateOur Sites Our StoriesA group of Traveller children from Waltham Forest havemade a book about their lives.Our Sites Our Stories is available from Waltham Forest Arts inEducation Network, The Education Centre, Queens Road,Walthamstow, London E17 8QS, cost £3.00 for single copies,£2.50 for five or more copies.Photo: Barbie SmithIssue 22 / Winter 2005Travellers’ Times9

Your RightsCops andTravellersPolice involvement upsets TravellersIt was a case of cops and Travellers, rather than cops and robbers,in Oxfordshire this autumn when Inspector Geoffrey Robinson fromOxfordshire County Council’s new Traveller Management Unitvisited county sites to explain new tenancy agreements.Some tenants were told that if they failed to sign the agreementsthey faced eviction.Kay Beard of the National Association of Gypsy Women said thethreat of eviction had caused great stress. And she questioned theinvolvement of the police: “Would the police be given themanagement of a housing estate?” she asked.Andrew Ryder of the Gypsy and Traveller Law Reform Coalitiondescribed the Management team as ‘a retrograde step’.Following meetings between the Council and Birmingham’sCommunity Law Partnership, representing tenants, the agreementswere changed and the Council promised that the police would notbe involved in the day-to-day running of the Council’s sites.John Parry, director of Oxfordshire’s Community Safety, denied thisrepresented substantial changes. “There has been a deliberatemisunderstanding,” he said. “The police are only involved in anyunauthorised sites.” Why then had Inspector Robinson visited sites?“We have made mistakes in getting Inspector Robinson to talk totenants,” Mr Parry agreed.He said that Inspector Robinson was moving on, but his post wouldbe filled again. He also announced the Management unit would berenamed Traveller Services and that he would “take advice on thebest way to consult with tenants.”Force of the law: “We’re only here to keep the peace,” one police spokeswoman toldTravellers’ Times following the eviction of Travellers from their own land atMeadowlands last year. But a new DVD, filmed and edited by Fil portrays the police asan intimidating force working in support of bailiffs during the eviction. Written andvideo evidence of the eviction has been passed to Human Rights officials atStrasbourg. Chelmsford Borough Council, meanwhile, is charging the evicted peopleup to £18,000 each to pay the cost of their own evictions.Earlier, Inspector Robinson defended his position, claiming that thenew licence agreements were “a significant improvement” and thatthere had been “intimidation” to persuade tenants not to sign.Margaret Wood of the Association of Chief Police Officers says theOxford plan would not be adopted countrywide. “There is nointention or desire by other police forces to manage permanentsites. We already have a very substantial workload and forceshave neither the time nor the inclination to do the work whichproperly falls to councils or landlords.”Photo: FilLegal AidLegal expert Steve Kennedy tacklesTravellers’ problemsCan our daughter come on site?We’ve lived on our own site for ten years. We’ve an old shed on theland that we’d like to pull down and move our daughter on to. Shelives away. What can we do?Firstly you need to check the back of your lease or your deed to seeif there are any specific restrictions regarding the parking of acaravan on the land. Assuming there are no restrictions, you canproceed.Next you need to go to the council’s planning department and tellthem what you intend to do. They will ask you the size of the shed,particularly its height, and what it was previously being used for. Theapplication will take a few weeks and usually costs about oneUpdateRights awardA Human Rights Award has been given to the Gypsy andTraveller Law Reform Coalition (G&TLRC) by Liberty. Welcomingthe news, coordinator Andrew Ryder said: “The Liberty Awardsends out a clear message that Travellers do have rights and thatthey are being undermined by the shortage of sites.”Moving Forward, a joint project between Gypsies and Derbyshirepolice has won a Queen’s Award for Innovation. “Movinghundred pounds. Someone willthen come and visit the site andlook at what you plan to do. Theywill go away and later give adecision.If you are turned down you havethe right to an appeal. You will nowneed a solicitor. The HumanRights Act 1998 states that: “Everyone has the right to respect for hisfamily life, his home, and his correspondence.”This law applies to Gypsies and Travellers as much as it applies toanyone else and the Courts now recognise this more and more. Yourdaughter is your family life, and your caravan is your home. Youtherefore have a claim to your Human Rights if the case goes tocourt.Steve Kennedy is studying to be a solicitor specialising in Gypsy andTraveller law and is currently doing his legal Masters.Sorry: we can’t answer individual problems.Forward actively engages the Gypsy and Traveller communitiesand attempts to tackle a problem that affects police forces bothin this country and Europe,” said the judges. Contact MovingForward through John Coxhead, 01773 572088 or SiobhanSpencer, 01629 583300.Moved on?The Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) is looking into the experience ofpeople being constantly moved and the problems it causes. Tellthem what it’s like: call Alan Parsons on 020 7944 3548 or writeto the SEU at Room 7/J10, Eland House, Bressendern Place,London SW1E 5DU10 Travellers’ Times Issue 22 / Winter 2005

Europe & The WorldReviewsWinter weather: children on a playground in the main Gypsy area, Little Paris, at Skopje in Macedonia.StrasbourgCombating ethnic cleansing, evictions and neo-Nazi attacks will be the primary aim ofthe new European Roma Forum which was signed into existence with the Council ofEurope in Strasbourg in December, writes Grattan Puxon.Romani activists including members of the Roma National Congress and InternationalRoma Union and Roma MPs from several countries have now put their names to aunited, continent-wide struggle by Europe’s 10 million Roma against what they say isincreasingly violent anti-Gypsy racism.GermanyNational Holocaust Day was marked in London on January 27. Among thoseremembered were the Gypsies killed at Auschwitz on August 2 1944. More than20,000 Roma died.RussiaSeven Russian teenagers were sentenced to up to ten years in prison in Decemberafter an attack on a group of Tajik Roma. The Roma were attacked with metal poles,chains, knives and axes. A five-year-old girl died later in hospital.AmericaSenator Hillary Clinton, wife of the former US president, has spoken out against thediscrimination and conditions faced by Roma people in Europe. Clinton, who metRoma community members in 1996 when she visited Eastern Europe, said the issuesof women and education should receive special attention. Roma women, she told anAmerican audience, had lower life expectancies and levels of education and higherrates of mortality, unemployment and poverty than other women.Czech republicUK Law Lords have ruled that a Home Office operation to screen Roma peopletravelling to Britain from Prague airport represented “inherent and systematic” racism.As reported in Travellers’ Times (Issue 12) UK immigration officers were stationed atthe airport in July 2001. Law Lords found that a Roma individual was 400 times morelikely to be rejected than any individual non-Roma. The scheme ended when theCzech Republic became part of the European Union.Photo: Elisabeth BlanchetStopping Places, aGypsy History of SouthLondon and Kent bySimon Evans (Universityof Hertfordshire Press,£14.99) ISBN 1 90280630 1Contact Sue Mariscal01707 284654I cannot recommendthis book enough toanyone with an interestin Gypsy life and history. Wonderful photos. Iwas delighted to read all the quotes. I couldsee the people and hear my parents andgrand-parents in what was being said. A trueaccount of a lifestyle that was snatched fromunder our feet.Mick Harrington, a Kent TravellerThe Romani World, ahistorical dictionary of theGypsies, Donald Kenrick(University of HertfordshirePress, £14.99)ISBN 1 902806 26 3Inevitably, with such acomprehensive work,each reader will finditems missing, or inclusionsthat one feelsare not needed. Giventhe title, I found it odd that some non-Romanireferences are there. However, the book is ahugely valuable reference, covering just abouteverything that anyone with interest in Gypsiescould want. A ‘must buy’!Len SmithWinter Time: Memoirsof a German Sinto whosurvived Auschwitz byWalter Winter, translatedby Struan Robertson(University of HertfordshirePress, £9.99) ISBN1 902806 38 7In Winter Time, GermanSinto Walter Winterretells, in his ownwords, his wartimeexperience and his survival of the Gypsygenocide by the Nazis. He was conscriptedinto the German Navy only to be dischargedon ‘racial grounds’ and in 1943, together withtwo siblings, was deported to the Gypsy Campof Auschwitz-Birkenau.To this day far too little is known in Germany,not to mention the wider world, about the fateof Germany’s Sinti and Roma at the hands ofthe Nazis and it is rather a forgotten Holocaust.This marvellous little book sets the recordstraight and is an absolute ‘must read’ forRomani and gorja alike. It is a book that thereader will find rather difficult to put downagain until he has read it all.Michael Veshengro Smith, InternationalRomani GuildBackground Photo: Julie BonnerIssue 22 / Winter 2005Travellers’ Times11

Trav TalkBlushing BlythBlyth Valley Borough Council in North East England has landed inhot water over a questionnaire asking residents to list localproblems. “What gets right up your nose?” prompted the helpfulquestionnaire: “Dog mess? Drug abuse? Graffiti? Gypsies?”Listing Gypsies as a potential problem – rather than communitychargepaying residents – caused red faces at the council.“This was an oversight. No offence was meant,” promised aCouncil spokeswoman. The questionnaire had been produced bya public relations company for the Council. Presumably thecompany waived its fee?Pure professionalsA new group, the National Gypsies and Travellers Affairs (NGTA),is looking for Gypsies who are professional people such assolicitors and educationalists to join the organisation. “We arelooking for Gypsies and Travellers from all walks of life,” saysNGTA’s Bridie Jones. More information on 01227 453441 orSylvia Dunn on 01268 782792.Bus stopMike Gallagher from theLincolnshire Vintage VehicleSociety is trying to find a bus.The last registered owner isbelieved to be a New Travellerin the south of England, of thisbus. “It’s a 1956 Bristol SC 4LKnumber NFW 643 and we’rehoping to find it because we’vegot several Bristols already inour collection,” explains Mike.Beating the boys: Seven Irish Traveller girls not only bravely battled against localboys’ teams, but also managed to take second place in London last year. The LondonGypsy and Traveller units’ Hackney girls group learned football with specialist coachBeverly before competing in the Hackney mini Olympics 5-a-side football tournament.Site specificGovernment Gypsy site refurbishment grants have been awardedto Bradford Council: £10,425 – Mary Street; East CambridgeshireCouncil: £42,700 – First Drove; Herefordshire Council: £300,000 –Grafton; Manchester City: £1,157,250 – Fairholme site; ShropshireCouncil: £63,525 – Craven Arms; Southwark: £820,875 – Springtideand Burnhill site; and West Sussex Council: £141,900 – Horsgate.Travellers’ Times subscriptionsLocal authorities and police authorities were invited to subscribe toTravellers’ Times and many have done so, helping to secure thefuture of the magazine. Those organisations that were invited tosubscribe and have not done so will, in the future, receive only onecopy of each issue. Travellers’ Times continues to be sent free toTravellers and voluntary organisations. To receive a subscriptionpack contact Hilary Smallwood at Travellers’ Times.Young Times...Young Times...Young Times...Not so jolly holly: Little DavidSmith holding a piece of hisdaddy’s mistletoe at TenburyHolly and Mistletoe Market inWorcestershire. The market hasbeen sold and the future of thesite is uncertain. The localcouncil are going to try and finda suitable site to hold it nextyear as they don’t want to loseit. Travellers from all over thecountry have been coming tosell holly and mistletoe in thetown going back 150 years.Model pupil: My name is DannySines and I live on Kalima site inChobham.This is a picture of me with mymodel wagon that I made inschool.My class were making movingtoys so I decided to make awagon in memory of my lategrandfather, Henry Loveridge,because when he was youngerhe used to paint wagons. I amproud of this wagon as I am ofmy grandfather.Good Reading: Ten-year-oldTraveller David Wilkinson readGypsy Horses written by LisaMcNamara. “I thought it wasgood. I liked the picturesbecause they were colourful. Ialso think other Traveller kidsand non Traveller kids would liketo read it. I didn’t know they bredthat many coloured horsesabroad. If I had to choose what Iliked the best it would be thepictures. (Gypsy Horses from theDerbyshire Gypsy LiaisonGroup. Contact Robert Dawson01773 812202 £4.99 with freepostage.Turkey Joe writes: Years andyears ago my mum and dadused to go potato picking in thefields. Nowadays the machinesdo their jobs. In our days we doturkey plucking. The wholefamily comes. On a good daymy family plucks over 2-300birds, maybe more. You canimagine what it looks like at theend of the day full of feathersand blood. After eight hourswork we finally get home. Weneed a really good wash! I reallyenjoy the work because it isgood money and I can buy allmy Christmas presents with it.Say what you think. Write to Barbie at Travellers’ Times