Some facts about Gypsies and Travellers in relation to this project

What do we mean by Gypsies and Travellers?
The Gypsy and Traveller community in the United Kingdom is made up of two main groups, namely traditional and new Travellers. Traditional Travellers include Anglo-Romany Gypsies, Irish, Scottish and Welsh Travellers. Two of these groups, Anglo-Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers are recognised as ethnic minority groups under the Race Relations Act (1976).

The term Gypsy is thought to be a derivative of Egyptian, which is what the settled population believed the Roma to be when they arrived in Britain some 400 years ago. Other groups of traditional Travellers are thought to have a history dating back around 150 years. NB Where the term Gypsy is used within this project it refers to Anglo-Romany Gypsies.

New Travellers refers to a growing community of people from a diverse cultural and social background that have taken up a nomadic lifestyle over the past 40 or so years.

Are all Gypsies and Travellers nomadic people?
Many traditional Travellers have settled into either housing or onto permanent sites. It is estimated that 90% of Gypsies across the world now live in houses. Whether a person who has settled still considers themselves to be a Traveller is seen as being largely a matter of personal definition.

Some groups are highly mobile, moving on when work opportunities have been exhausted and others reside permanently in one area or only travel for several weeks or months of the year, returning to their home base for the winter months. The romantic view of horse-drawn caravans has long since passed. Gypsies and traditional Travellers now use modern, good quality vehicles and caravans. NB Where the term Traveller or Travellers is used within this project it refers to all Travellers - traditional or new, settled or on the road.

How did Travellers become associated with Hampshire?
Traditionally, Gypsy Travellers lived and worked in the rural areas of Hampshire. Many came to work in the hop fields and to pick strawberries for the London market. Since the 1950s many Gypsies and Travellers have found alternative means of work within urban or semi-urban economies as landscape gardeners, tarmac layers, motor trade workers, scrap metal dealers, tree fellers etc.

Some of these families have settled in houses whilst retaining their cultural background. Other families moved on to local authority managed sites or bought land themselves and set up small private sites. There are a few families who still travel around Hampshire and the surrounding counties, others regularly pass through Hampshire and may stay for short periods whilst fathers are working in the area. The Romany language is still used by some families. Their sense of family is very strong and they often feel isolated from the settled communities around them.

Gypsy and Traveller pupils in England are the group most at risk of failure in the education system
"Supporting Gypsy Traveller children in school requires that the school take the initiative to know about the cultures, languages and lifestyles of the Gypsy traveller students for whom it caters. Acquiring such knowledge ensures, provided the will is there, that the school is able to take the necessary steps to build bridges with families, and cater for both the pastoral and academic needs of the students. Some Gypsy Traveller families might not be willing to make their ethnicity known for fear of harassment and hostility. The onus must therefore be on the school to create and environment in which students and their families do not feel intimidated".
'Making the Difference. Teaching and Learning Strategies in Multi-ethnic Schools' Dfee Research Report. July 1998