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How far have we really come in terms of our attitudes towards travellers? Henry VIII made the status of gypsy a capital offence in 1530. Nearly 500 years later the government still seems to want to get rid of travellers, or to at least make it as difficult as possible for them to continue to be different.

Born to a Romany father and "gorge" (house dwelling) mother, growing up was confusing for me at times. I learned about discrimination and fear of the authorities, but mostly I learned about ignorance. In a society that boasts about celebrating diversity and difference, show me a celebration that reaches as far as the travelling communities. There are none. Just parish councils and local governments colluding together to close down annual horse fairs, or TV companies producing half-baked, middle-class dramas which get away with portraying gypsies as dirty baby stealers with red-spotted neckchiefs and crystal balls. It's laughable, and even more laughable that this is tolerated.


Take my father's plight. He was a travelling man and bought a small piece of land from money he had saved. He lived happily in a modest caravan and kept a horse, dog and chickens. He knew that the local authorities would not approve of him living on his own land and would prefer him to conform, so he made a planning application to build a bungalow. It was refused so, under human rights legislation, he submitted another application as a travelling man. He hoped the council would recognise his culture and traditions but again the application was refused and he faced eviction.

He appealed against the decision to be moved from his own land. However, the local authority did not believe he was a genuine gypsy and claimed that access to the land was not permitted. The authority told him to leave the land and join the overcrowded gypsy site a mile away. But he explained how he wanted to live on his own land in the tradition that made sense to him. The situation has yet to be resolved.


There's a paradox around travelling people in Britain today. People cling to the romanticism of the gypsy ways without any acceptance that the traditions that put them there have a place in the present or the future.

Planning officers can be ignorant about the travelling culture while local authorities herd travelling people into overcrowded sites like animals, simply because they can. Surely it's time we really fell in love with diversity.

Jayne Wareham is an adoption and fostering social worker.