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In their own words 

Accounts of travellers lives
 
 

Bonny's Story - Aged 13

 

 I enjoy going to all the traveller fairs as we meet up with friends and relatives. In Summer we go round England and Ireland in our caravan, staying on traveller campsites, but it is getting harder to find them as they are being closed. Tower Parks has been closed and they are evicting everyone from the Wareham site in June. Travellers are hassled wherever we go, which is why we stick together. Everything you ever read in the papers about travellers is bad and it is unfair because a small number of people are giving everyone a bad name.

Most of my friends at school are travellers as they can speak Romani and we all understand each other. Sometimes we get picked on by teachers and other students as they don't understand us and say things like 'How can you be a traveller when you live in a house.' People make fun of the way we speak and sometimes call us names.

At school I enjoy music, but school can feel like a prison sometimes with too many rules and not enough freedom. I'd like to learn about traveller culture, but we don't do any of this in school. At Manorside School, Mr Wilkinson had us doing stuff about traveller art, music and even maths which was cool. I'd like to see lessons on looking after animals, motorbikes and traveller history.

I am proud of being a gypsy and think I am a gipsy first and am English second. I would like my kids to grow up gypsies but I think that the future looks bad. There will be no sites apart from illegal ones and we will be forced to live in houses. We wont get to see our relatives as much and will lose a lot of what makes our life special. We look after each other, respect our elders and would never put them in old peoples homes.

 

 Anna as a gypsy
Barry's Story- Aged 13 We always go to the Dorset Steam Fair or Stourpaine by Badbury Rings in Dorset. It is massive and has loads of steam engines, mostly owned by travellers. I have been on one and shovelled in the coal. I tried to drive it but the steering was way too hard.

There is a boxing ring set up for fights, sometimes gloves are used and sometimes it is bare knuckles. You have to be 13 or older to go in the ring and someone else fights you. People bet on the winner who either knocks the loser down or the loser gives up, there are no rounds so you just keep on going until you win or lose.

You can buy almost anything at the fair; Trailers, wagons, cabins, clothes, horses. You can get budgies for £1!

I've got four horses that my dad bought for me that we keep on my Uncles' land. I like riding them.

I've got a motorbike and ride it on the common.

 

 

 Click the picture below for information on the Steam FairImage from the Great Dorset Steam Fair
Micha's Story - Aged 13 When the Derby is on at Epson racecourse there is also a travellers fair. Loads of gypsies gather together camping on the field. There is lots of music and a big fairground. My favourite ride is on the waltzer. We meet up with loads of relatives and all my cousins go to the fair so we have a really good laugh.

Lots of horses are for sale as well as things like puppies and cockerels.

At the fair we have seen famous people like the Queen and Emma Bunton from the Spice Girls.

I have got a stallion that I ride a lot, he is really cool and he lets me wash, brush and groom him. I also plait his mane . I trust him totally and can crawl through his legs and know he wont hurt me.
 

Amy's story - Aged 13

 

 Me and my family a go to the Dorset Steam Fair. Over 1000 travellers go to these fairs. You can buy all sorts of things like birds for £1, horses, clothes. I meet up with lots of relatives and friends.

I have got 2 horses, one of them is only 9 months old and so is too young to ride.My brothers  have a motorbike  which I like riding.

We also have dogs which are greyhounds and I have a rabbit.

We have rabbit stew and pheasant stews.

I think in the future it will be harder to be a gypsy because people seem to be giving us a hard time because we are different. People set up illegal sites because there is nowhere else to go. You get hassled everywhere, but if they gave us somewhere to stay then we wouldn't be living on illegal sites. We don't want to break the law, but we just want to live our way of life.

I like being a gypsy as you feel like you are in one big family with people looking after each other. I like travelling in Summer as we meet loads of people and have a really great time.

 
Hayleys' Story - Aged 16  Me and my family go to the Dorset steam fare and Stour pain every year. Normally my dad lets me choose a piece of gold to buy at each. my Grandfa used to take me travelling every summer and every Easter before he passed away I really miss it as its not the same without him here. I think peoples views on travellers are wrong as they hear some thing  that a traveller has done wrong and take it out on all of us. I will admit that some people do stuff wrong but so do gourgees and its not taken out on every individual. Some people when they hear your a traveller instantly think bad thoughts but we are no different from every body else.

 The most important thing to me is my family and my horses. I would do life for my family because if it wasn't for them I wouldn't have any thing. I would say I am a gypsy before an English school student.

When I first got with my boyfriend all my family especially my dads side kept saying he was no good for me just because he's not a traveller but I treat every one how I like to be treated and that is with respect. I think my family are a bit over protective but I am the youngest and the only girl so it is understandable.

No-matter what anyone says i am proud to be gypsy and wouldn't change nothing in my life for the world as long as i have my horses and family I am happy.

I  have 3 horses and one of them is in foal at the moment.

 

  
Ryan's story -aged 15 I like being a traveller because we are all 1one big family and we always stick together. I like being a traveller because i enjoy going out with friends and family on my motorbike and mini moto. Things i don't like about being a traveller is when people call me names and  say your not a gypsy because you live in a house. people respect me because i try to get on with everyone .when i leave school i would like to be either a car mechanic or a motorbike racer .In the future i recon there's a possibility that there will be some travellers sites but not very many because the law are taking everyone down but, i recon there's a 50 50 chance that travellers will be forced to live in houses in the future,  
From Cyberpilots a site for young travellers - Click Here
Interview with a Young Gypsy and Traveller in the South East

Q. What do you care about?

A. Mum and dad, my life, pets.
Mum, brothers, Edward cos he's disabled (brain damaged)
Education - strong views…didn't want to go to school at first…No one listened.
Boys - who don't treat you as well as they should. Respect. They cant survive without women.
Lipstick - have not got enough - only about 30.
Services for young women - pampering things to make me feel good, like make up and shopping. Driving lessons, in school and free so we can get ourselves around and not have to rely on blokes.
Young travellers - helping non travellers know travellers way in Cyber Pilot - internet links with travellers, Video club on Tuesdays, documentary making, big brother spoof. Burgess Hill, Community House, Denham road…use computers , homework club.
Clean toilets in the town.
Speed runs in Denham Road, people come flying down really fast there have been kids hit in the past. People should take care of the road and have speed bumps.
More stuff for older young people, like youth shelters.
 

Q. What's it like being a young traveller?

A. S'alright.
If your brothers ask you to do something, you have to do it, even if they are younger than you.
You have to ask their permission to do things, like go out with a boy, (if your dad has passed away).
I don't get call names as I'll crack em if they do.
It's not very nice - if you want to see your mates even for 5 mins, you have to beg your mum or brothers - what they say goes.
It's hard - one of my brothers - just like my dad. A travellers funeral is different - you don't bury them then go to the pub. You have their body home in a coffin for 7 days and 6 nights and then on the 7th day you open the lid and say your good byes, shut the lid, bury them and then thousands of travellers come from everywhere and we go home to the trailers and we burn the trailer and smash all the cups people drank out of then burn the sofas people were sitting on, get all the clothes, take them home and look after them til the day the mum dies, and move out of the area. You have to start all over again - it's not easy being a traveller.