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New Travellers, Old Story Understanding New Travellers’ history and culture A project of The Children’s Society, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund Contents CONTENTS Introduction 3 Exhibition 1: Why I Became a New Traveller 4 Exhibition 2: A Short History of New Travellers 8 Exhibition 3: Festival! 1 Feedback 17 Young people’s work 18 Further information How to book an exhibition 6 New Traveller, Old Story oral history collection 7 The Children’s Society 8 Credits 9 www.childrenssociety.org.uk All content and images © The Children’s Society 2010. Charity registration no. 221124 Introduction The Children’s Society project New Travellers, Old Story began in June 2009. A year- long piece of work, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, its aims were to increase young New Travellers’ understanding of their own history and culture, positively raise awareness of the history and culture of New Travellers among the general public and create something permanent that people could use to learn about the history and culture of New Travellers. To meet these aims, we interviewed current and former New Travellers across the South West. We used what people told us, and the many photos they kindly shared, as the basis for three public exhibitions. Titled ‘Why I Became a New Traveller’, ‘A Short History of New Travellers’ and ‘Festival’, the words and pictures from these exhibitions form the basis of this heritage pack. Also included are interpretive works by young New Travellers exploring their thoughts and feelings about their heritage, a section on where to find further information and instructions on how to book the exhibitions. Young New Travellers played an active part in the project through being interviewed and helping to interview other members of their community and by taking part in focus groups to shape the content of the exhibitions. We are very grateful for their input and enthusiasm, as we are to all the New Travellers who gave up their time to share their life stories and personal photographs. The final part of the project will see the digital interview recordings sent to The Children’s Society’s Records and Archive Centre in south London, where they will form a unique oral history collection of New Traveller lifestyle and culture. We hope you enjoy this heritage pack as much as we have enjoyed collecting the information in it. May 2010 www.childrenssociety.org.uk All content and images © The Children’s Society 2010. Charity registration no. 221124 3 Why I became a New Traveller Introduction The Children’s Society has worked with New Travellers in the South West for nearly 20 years. You may know them as New Age Travellers, or hippies, crusties or simply Travellers – in the media they are sometimes even referred to as ‘scum’, but in fact they are just people, no better or worse than any others. Unfortunately for them, their decision not to live in conventional housing also means that New Travellers are among some of the most discriminated-against people in Britain. The ideals and disillusionments that have driven this diverse and ever-changing group of people onto the road from the 1970s onwards, make for a fascinating slice of British social history. The Children’s Society has interviewed many New Travellers, past and present, about what made them take the decision to swap their settled existence for a nomadic life: in caravans, coaches, double decker buses, ex-army vehicles, horse-drawn wagons, bender tents made of saplings and tarpaulin, tee-pees, and other dwellings. Their answers reveal a great deal about both the positive benefits that life as a New Traveller can offer and the reasons that lead people to take such a radical step as to try to create an alternative society. www.childrenssociety.org.uk All content and images © The Children’s Society 2010. Charity registration no. 221124 4 Why I became a New Traveller ‘It’s a family.’ What is a New Traveller? Chris, Somerset Just like those of us who live in houses, New Travellers are a diverse group and it is difficult ‘It’s a way of life really, it’s more than to provide a catch-all definition. Unlike other just social. You kind of carry it with you travelling people: the Roma, Romany Gypsies whether you live in a moving home or a and Irish Travellers, who are defined as ethnic settled home. It’s the way you think and minority communities under the Race Relations feel basically.’ Amendment Act 2000, New Travellers are not an Kirsty, Somerset ethnic minority and mainly come from the white ‘And anyway, it’s not New Age Travellers, British population. it’s Middle Aged Travellers now.’ Although they come from diverse backgrounds Liz, Somerset and have gone on the road at different stages in the last 30 years for a variety of reasons, most New Travellers do share some common values and characteristics. The three most important of these are: • COMMUNITY – being able to live in close proximity, share childcare, resources and support each other. • Wanting to ‘TREAD LIGHTLY ON THE LAND’ – to live close to nature and use sparingly its finite resources. • They are ANIMAL LOVERS, particularly dogs. www.childrenssociety.org.uk All content and images © The Children’s Society 2010. Charity registration no. 221124 Why I became a New Traveller New Travellers and discrimination ‘New Age Travellers? Not in this age, not in any age!’ Prime Minister John Major, 1992 ‘Racism … towards Gypsies and Travellers is still common, frequently overt and seen as justified.’ Commission for Equalities and Human Rights, 2009 In 1994, The Children’s Society published a report, Out of Site, Out of Mind, which warned that ‘Amidst the images and rhetoric, the needs of New Age Travellers, and in particular the needs of Traveller children and young people, have tended to be forgotten’. Fifteen years later, this is unfortunately still the case. For New Travellers, prejudice against their lifestyle affects virtually all areas of their existence. In common with other Travellers, they suffer from a chronic shortage of legal stopping places as most councils have not provided ‘You want to be proud but it’s hard when enough legal sites for their travelling populations. people are constantly putting you down.’ Their children are often bullied at school; many K, 14, Somerset, born a New Traveller newspapers encourage prejudice against them through inflammatory and unbalanced reporting; their planning applications are far less likely to be approved than those from house-dwellers; local people tend to presume their guilt when crimes are committed; shops and pubs sometimes refuse their business; and vigilante violence is an ever- present threat. On top of this they suffer from all the inequalities that afflict the rural poor, and all the difficulties of accessing services faced by those with no home address. Unlike other sections of the travelling community, who have been recognised as ethnic minorities, they are not protected by race relations legislation. It is a hard life. www.childrenssociety.org.uk All content and images © The Children’s Society 2010. Charity registration no. 221124 6 Why I became a New Traveller ‘I was 17, it was Thatcher’s –’cos I’d had an architectural great unemployment of the education and here was early ’80s, my father was primitive architecture in quite a strong influence its essence. First arch in and he was saying if I didn’t architecture were bent get a job I was in the army, saplings really. So there which I was dead against, was me, back to the roots and into growing my hair, so of architecture, and people off I went! Bought a caravan making their own home, for £40, up a drove [lane] that they could afford, that that was full of people, it was real, that was affordable was easy. … It was Salisbury, and very creative and a place called Green Lane. close to nature, warm and There was a lot of families, comfortable, fine. It was a like, old hippies from the revelation to me and I felt, ’60s. I was the youngest crackling away, candlelight well, there’s got to be some adult at 17. … It was so – it was beautiful! Everything kind of role for me in this.’ inspiring. I was hooked! about it made such an Tony, Somerset From one visit I moved up impact on me.’ there.’ David, Wiltshire ‘A huge amount of people Nick, Somerset I know went on the road ‘I went to Treworgey in those two years [1984- ‘I first discovered the scene Tree Festival in 1989 and 1985]. … It seemed like in ’81 when I was an arts thought, wow, I’m going to every time we went to student. One of the students live like this too! And that’s a festival lots of people I was at college with used what I did. I was on the would come out of the local to wear wellies into college, road for over 12 years and towns … and go, “Oh great, muddy wellies, and we all all my kids were born on can I come with you?” I used to think, is this some site, in whatever vehicles, think it was great because fashion we’re unaware of? all over the country. … Right there were lots of people And I said to him one day, at the beginning when I who, if they hadn’t been “Why do you always wear first started travelling, there living that life, would have wellies?” And he said, “Oh, was just two of us, me and been homeless. And quite ’cos I live in a caravan”.
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