Pat Collins - Showman

Pat Collins was a Showman and lived in Walsall, I went to a talk about him and the fairground that he ran at our local 'hut' night, it was really interesting, what made me smile was the people who ran the Boxing ring where the Hickmans ( my step fathers family name )  one of my partners family made the Motorbike ring of death. My Moms extended family The Kemps worked on many fairgrounds and probably knew the Collins' it is a weird and wonderful world with many coincidences along the way.

information on Pat Collins

Nomad.

We were once all nomadic, moving with the seasons to forage the land to survive, then small groups lived together to farm the land and from this towns grew, yet there is prejudice against travellers even though this is where we began.

Are people envious of the freedom or do they need the structured world, would the thought of moving weekly to be stressful and not knowing where they would rest their heads and eat a meal?

I am currently reading a biography of a woman who grew up post war with her traveller family, when Gypsies helped with harvests of hops in Kent and apples in Hereford, or collecting rags and metal to resell,  life was hard work but happy when with the family and community, mixing with the non gypsy folk was another matter. Her Mother had decided her and her brother should learn to read and write so took them to a local school, they were bullied not only by the other pupils but the teacher who also turned a blind eye to the children’s’ behaviour .

The constant ‘being moved on’ by the police was also a stress for the whole family, for this family though came the comfort of being able to buy a small piece of land close to relatives where they had a base, not permanent but somewhere to return to when not working in the fields.

I would like to imagine a world where people can live as they wish,

Locke Family

A wonderful piece of film about the Locke Family who lived around Shropshire. ATV 1964

 and a photo of a horse.

Great Researching

BBC

I love the BBC for research, you find some real gems and this is one.

A wonderful selection of information about Gypsies.

Richard Long : 1983

Richard Long on Omnibus

While researching for the Dissertation I found this Gem ! if you like Richard Baker and Old style Tate Curators this is for you :-)

Looking For Esmerelda

While reading through reseach online I found that thier is a posibility that Esmerelda Lock(e) who was a Shropshire Gypsy was painted by Rossetti while in Edinburgh, I have found a couple of pieces about this and hope to come up with an image, I have emailed the Birmingham Gallery which has a collection of Pre Raph work of its own and has some from Tate aswell at the moment, in the hope of finding an answer.

Discussion about local Gypsies

I am part of a local historical group and thought this would also be a good place to ask about Gypsies and have had some interesting responses. I have removed names for privacy.

1.Yes gypsy travellers were regularly parked with their horse drawn mobile home on land owned by Arthur Burton and sited off Back Lane. off Hobbs Hole Lane. Aldridge. I can only say that this was prior to the mid 1980's and also it was presumed they worked on the farm whilst there. They left dozens of empty two pint cider bottles some of which are still found to this day. I do not recall them anywhere else in Stonnall but there were of course the Irish men who came over annualy to harvest the potatoe crop and were not otherwise travellers  ·

2. My Grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Horton, nee Blann, of Keepers Cottage, Footherly Lane, Welcomed the return of the travellers with their horse drawn vehicles, each Summer. They weren't working for her, and I don't know who they were working for, but my mother tells me that Granny and the old gypsy lady would sit down together with a pot of tea and catch up on each other's year's worth of family events. This would be late 40s-early 50s. How far removed was my grandmother's life from that of her friend. The gulf was certainly not as wide as it now would be. Granny brought her children up in a small cottage with no running water or electricity. In the summer months when it was too hot to cook indoors, she would employ bricks and iron to rig up a "barbecue" (anachronistic word)

3. The Irish seasonal workers that Gordon mentions were a continuation of a tradition that had existed since the Iron Age. When agriculture got going in earnest in Britain, it would attract seasonal workers from across the Irish Sea. These people used Watling Street as a means of getting to places of interest in southern Britain. Bearing in mind that this country was Celtic speaking in those days, the road they used was named after these annual migrants. The Welsh word for Irish is Gwyddel and that is precisely where the name of the road comes from.

4.I remember gypsy ladies travelling through stonnall during the 1940's selling home made cloths pegs which were closed at the top by a metal band peeled from a tin can, if the house holder did not purchase them they were subject to rather strong curses, one such event I remember very clearly

5. I remember travellers hawking clothes pegs door-to-door

6The same gypsy family came annually, to help with the veg picking. They would call into our corner shop. Grandma was in charge and would be helped down from the truck by the family who all had Biblical names, eg Abraham. Grandma would sit down on the chair in the shop and ask for the goods. Once bought, Grandma would scoop all the goods into her apron rather than using a bag. They respected my Mum always calling her Mrs B. When they were stopped from staying on the layby (sometimes near Wall towards the riding school - is that Gentleshaw) they moved to a designated gypsy site. Unfortunately they weren't allowed to take their chickens with them so they gave them to us. We put them with my pet bantoms which were kept under the fruit trees at the back of the garage forecourt. These were the "proper gypsies" and not the ones that came round selling pegs and sprigs of heather or offering to sharpen your kitchen knifes.

Im really pleased that the inklings of them coming through here were right and also as they worked on the farms. It was a shame that there were no surnames for me to follow up.

Eviction in 1964

ATV Interview with the Lock Family

I have read about the Lock family while researching and it was lovely to see them although a very sad circumstance, they had been living on land in Shropshire and were being moved on Mrs Lock was heavily pregnant at the time and already had two children, Mr Lock hadn't worked for a while as no one wanted a Traveller working for them. The Councillor who is interviewed does seem a little nervous and comes across as quite shifty but it is probably being interviewed making him nervous. But not everyone was negative which was reassuring to hear.

Culmington church

Close to the campsite is this wonderful church, a new build in the 14th century, with an amazing 1970's spire.
The village was really an extended farm by the looks of it, many of the houses looked as if they were tied cottages for the workers, the only thing missing was a pub, but this may of been changed in to a house, or one of the houses was used like a public house. Not far down the road was the Pedlar's Rest, this is marked on the map but when you are there it is a cross roads and a what appears to be a couple of cottages, looking at them from the roadside it appears as an old cottage with extensions on the side. Close by is a farm which may of used Travellers to work on the land at harvest times hence the name of the area of land.

Wash day dresses

My ghost dresses on the bush, a traditional way to dry your clothes on the road.

Spoons

Little Welsh love spoons to decorate my caravan :)

The milk bar

Barmouth milk bar, fantastic veggie breakfast!  There was a motorcross event on the beach, they had used a digger to churn up a track, the car park was packed with caravans and motorhomes !
But the decor in the milk bar was fantastic, very old fashioned, there used to be milk bars all over Wales but I have only ever seen two.

We stopped at a campsite not far out of Barmouth called Nanctol Waterfalls, it was recommended by friends Vicky and Tom, and was better than expected! the site was quiet due to the time of year but plenty of room and the washrooms and bathrooms were clean and had hot water. The waterfall itself was stunning and I have photos to post :-)

A fantastic couple of days and then on to Ludow..

Another dress

The 3rd dress/gown complete ish not happy with the neckline so may rework it. I am taking these away with us, for photographs . And will be explained more with them.

Work so far

Well here are the pics I received today of the work that has been done on the caravan, Mr and D. Have worked so hard and I hope the work I do complements what they have done so far. The bed is complete and do is the sink cupboard and the table reshaped so we can sit at it with ease. Very proud of the chaps, bottle of JD coming your way .

Second Ghost Dress

I am pleased with this dress ans have made it slightly shorter as if for a younger child

The new bed.

It's been a busy week, Colin and his trusty side kick D have replaced the small sofa bed with a fantastic small double bed, the mattress with arrive tomorrow so we can go away at the weekend. Then I can do the soft furnishing next week.

Memorial

In the 1960's approximately 3 miles from where I live the police evicted a Traveller site, this was known as the battle of Brownhills. I am still investigating this but found that 3 sisters had been killed during this eviction, the bailiffs had arrived and were moving caravans, the children were still inside ans as the caravan moved the stove fell over and sadly the children were burnt to death.
I can't imagine the grief and no one was prosecuted, so it was never closed. Dreadful.

Researching

Found some really interesting sites about the hop picking in Kent, some lovely photographs of the families together, also people's memories of them.

The Traveller.

Here are a few images of the caravan which is a traditional bow top, which is drawn by horse, she had 3 horses two of which she had for 7 years.  I asked about any problems with racism as this is something that I feel is important as part of my research,  she spoke of a recent event as she was coming towards Glastonbury, (which I have always considered a peaceful and accepting society to all) stones had been thrown at the caravan while she travelled along and name calling,  then realised that she was also travelling with her daughters, how must they of felt ? 

The lady with the baby had been a key worker with the travellers  and is self confessed fair weather traveller along with her partner who is on a site at the moment. She has offered to send me information which she gathered for her degree work, which I hope will increase my research.

The caravan is used for sleeping in and for storage, the living space is the seat and the land around, an old pallet had been used for firewood and the space was being tidied as we spoke, so no rubbish left around which is a common complaint with travellers.

Blogger ....behave !

Daft blogger app, failed my last post and I didn't notice doh..
Anyway a fantastic time has been had, the caravan is fab, no damp and keeps the warm in, some changes have to be made but that was expected. Firstly a decent bed, the sofa bed was ok but cosy and we have to get ourselves organized to were things are and where things should be. But in the whole a successful time was had.
The caravan site was small and the owner very helpful, the weather on ourside, a trip to longleat and a meal out at the fantastic Hundred Monkeys .
On our way home ( within 3 miles) I noticed a bow top caravan and  horses, we went over and had a chat with the lady traveller and her friend who had been a key worker with the travellers before settling down with a traveller herself and being a fair weather traveller.
More to follow.....

Planning a trip.

I have decided that the first trip out with the soon to be named caravan, shall be to Glastonbury! A favourite place to visit out of season, a campsite close to the tor and a Morrisons for brekkie :) more details to follow :)

Heading home ?

The caravan has been safely transported back to base and guided on to the drive, I will pop in tomorrow and have a look to see exactly what needs doing, I know the gas and water need hooking up and the shower room needs work but the living space is fab !

Why?

I love being somewhere else, even if it's a couple of miles away, I love to explore and gaze around the spaces,around me. I haven't mapped much before, in my HND I mapped the journey I took the cocoon on ,so my final degree work relates to that. I have chosen to make a quilt as the way to record the journey and it will be displayed along with the caravan at the end if the year. Along with other works I make en route, I shall also have a journal of any other work I made which may be site specific. I hope to also gave a campsite for a night get people to join me and discuss where they like to be and why.

The beginning of a Journey

~Today (3/10/2012)  My partner and I collected the caravan which is going to be a large part of my final piece for my degree show, it will part of the exhibition and be used as a display for the work that I shall create on my journeys. My main piece will be a quilt created with images of the places and emotions. This will be printed and embroidered .