Big Fat Gypsy Wedding 25/01

[CaveMum]

I can't see another thread for tonight's episode, so here we go.

Pull up a chair!

We have a traveller settlement near us and there are quite a few traveller kids in DD's school/class. I also have dealings with a lot of the women through work.

I have to say I've always found them to be polite and respectful. They definetly do have different ideas to what's acceptable or not. They think that non travellers have very loose morals, etc. The kids don't attend secondary school as their parents are worried that our kids will be a bad influence on them.

I feel sorry for them having their homes being torn down and nowhere else to go.

It's one of those situations where you just can't win. Settlements are established by the local Council. But by setting them up, they're also imposing their will on the travellers. And from talking to gypsy planning applicants, they'd rather take their chances than move in with the travellers that are happy to live on the council sites - very hierarchical.

So what do you do? Because you really really can't let people develop and use protected land. You just can't. :(

Oops sorry for the patronizing response. I misread what you put. I don't know if he's Romany. Just discovered on my fb that a friend of a friend is related to the girl who married so will try to find out. They live in a town a couple of miles from me.

I'm confused. The people in the programme appear to be Irish Travellers and mainly talk about travelling but several times tonight they used the word gypsy. Do Travellers use the words interchangeably? Bet Gypsies don't...

Is one of the problems with local authority sites that there isn't separate provision for Travellers and for Gypsies?

And has there always been an Irish Traveller population in the UK? Just wondering as most of the people tonight seem to have Irish accents (which you could get from your family and community, fair enough, just wondering)?

I personally was really disgusted at the way the Travellers were treated. I really couldn't believe it.

What she said was using a toilet in a caravan, next to a kitchen was not a clean thing to do.

How are these weddings/christenings/communions paid for?????????
Honestly earned taxed income?

What jobs do they do to be able to afford it all? Are they all vets, management consultants and architects?

edam - Irish gypsies are called parvee i think and they've been over here for generations.

wiki says 'pavee' is another word for Traveller ? not the same thing as Gypsy or Romany at all. Although Wiki is not infallible.

it's not always countryside though: the nearest ones to us are on a piece of tiny derelict land right on a main road with a seriously dangerous building where the kids play. It's appalling they have nowhere to go, but they don't. Protect special land etc of course- but don't just chuck people off when there is nowhere for them. Sites near home don't have spare capacity but people evictd ther don;t lose thir humanity with their address.

I assumed Edam it was the closed nature of the community kept the accent going? saying that my Somerset one has completely vanbished in under 6 years so they don't take long to go, sadly.

(Not hugely wiser after reading wiki though, tbh.)

Oha nd the dress? catch fire? nah, Dh wires ones like that all the time, albeit for different reasons.

I remember there was a Romany/Traveller (don't know which) site in Shepherd's Bush, right under the Westway flyover and in between two dual carriageways. Not a healthy place to live.

My local paper regularly reports on a legal battle in a village near me, where a Traveller family bought some land and started building without permission. It has been going on for years.

Why are people so interested in where they get their money from? Seriously, you wouldnt dream of asking someone how they paid for their daughter's wedding normally would you?

I dont like a lot about Gypsy culture. But there is a lot I dont like about mine.

I dont like the way our children are sexualised AND expected to have sex at an early age. I dont like the way women are expected to do all the housework and childcare AND go out to work and bring in half the family income.

There are bits of all cultures I dont like but its what makes our world so interesting.

THere is a huge site near my house. You wouldnt know it was there. Its been there for years.

One of the reasons gypsies dont like the council sites is that they are bloody death traps. They are often on the edge of motorways, surrounded by storm ditches and next to railways. Lets not even think about the land the are on, green on top but brown and full of toxic chemicals underneath.

Nice.

edam, I think Pat was a romany gypsy (roma), his cousin used the word gadje which is a romany word meaning non-gypsy. That segment of the programme used the word gypsy, I think. The rest was about Irish travellers who aren't the same social ethnic group.

Roma do have very strict social behaviour and rules about swearing and proper behaviour, I've worked with them and it is true about the women not swearing in front of men etc.

Paddy was Romanie. As was Sammy-Jo from the previous series.

It's especially sad when they own the land isn't it? there should be some way to help them find decent land that's suitable to build on but these new planning laws about if a certain % of your neighbours object- well, they wanted to build affordable housing hare and even the Vicar was marching: could you imagine?

I don;t like the grabbing, lack of opportunities for women, the DV some seemed to be alluding to in episode one, or the health stats etc. And I remember all the lectures at college about how it is ahrde to gain access to sites as a professional.

Well when they associate non- traveller culture with being constantly evicted hardly a surprise is it?

We've had isues with travellers back home, though am not saying how as one group should not a stereotype make. treating people in such a way that if you treated a cat like it you'd be arrested is not going to help that.

If anyone is interested this is a fascinating read. It's about Roma, not about Irish travellers.

I do wonder why whoever is giving Travellers the legal advice that helps them fight councils for years over planning doesn't actually give them some advice about finding a site where they would be allowed to build. But that is probably a stupid question.

In my basket thank you. No idea when I can buy it but I will.

I remember when they built the council site where I grew up; they had a sign outside and a permanent protester presence 24/7. It said honk if you support us, I never honked as I didn;t- it was derelict land, hadn't been used since RAf used it in the wear, except for kids to drive around on with their parents before they paid for driving lessons. If you didn't honk you got all manner of abuse thrown at you by the protesters.

Not heard a peep from the residents though since they moved in. Funny that- makes you question who were the bigger problem wh?

we have two sites near us. one is HA run. it is well away from the road. there's another, farther out, on private land purchased by a half-traveller/half-country man and his non-traveller wife.

you'd never know either was there unless a local told you and never see any of the children.

you do see some in summer, at carnivals. they are often easy to spot.

but don't see them at school or in town at all.

Have now read all 14 pages - you ladies are super funny! Love it!

Same time next week - looking forward to it already.

jenandberry good to see your perspective on here, i cannot watch this programme again after last night.
I shouldn't expect more from reality tv really but the hideous voyeurism and racism that this programme is engendering in people makes me sick.

Prejudice against romany people and irish travellers really does seem to be the acceptable face of middle class racism judging from friends' Facebook comments last night. Awful comments from people who would not consider themselves to be racists in a million years.

edam, very interesting question. My DH is a lawyer working in this area, there is now no statutory duty for local authorities to provide land for travllers (previously they had to) so these people often have no choice but to buy land and build - where else can they go?

I'm pretty sure racism doen't come into it!! We are not talking about preserving ancient traditions here - this is fashion for stupid frocks influenced by U.S.A. and by T.V. If my white middle class neighbours dressed up in a revolting and ludicrous manner - I'd laugh at them too!