Romany Gypsy Louise Broadway enjoys her 'mainstream' job
By Chloe Axford BBC News
Louise Broadway says it is 'nice' when colleagues ask her questions
"There's a lot of people that still say to me: 'Travellers don't pay taxes and stuff'.
"Travellers pay taxes the same as anybody else does but you'd be surprised at how many travellers have their taxes taken out of their payrolls."
Louise Broadway, 32, is a customer services team manager at EDF Energy in Exeter.
According to the Plymouth and Devon Racial Equality Council, she is one of the younger generation of Gypsies and Travellers increasingly seeking work in "mainstream" jobs rather than being self-employed.
Miss Broadway said that she was up front about being a Romany Gypsy at work.
She told BBC News: "I've always been quite open and a lot of people are really interested once they realise that I won't take offence at what they're asking.
"They've got loads of questions, especially after the TV series My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.
"It's nice when people want to know something."
She said that in her first job, at a chicken factory, she was wary about how people would react to her.
"I had this feeling people wouldn't like me if they knew I was a traveller.
"Right from the start I was like: 'I'm a traveller by the way, if you don't like it you can lump it'.
"I didn't realise until I started working at EDF Energy what a chip on my shoulder I had."
She said she knows other people working in large companies who keep quiet about being travellers: "They've asked me not to mention it and I won't so that's fine."
Miss Broadway's family has been based in the South West for generations but much of her childhood was spent travelling with her parents and two sisters.
The family spent summers in Kent and the Isle of Wight, with winters in Devon, as her parents made a living selling products door-to-door.
'Settled lives'
Louise said they decided to set up a permanent base in Devon after her father was diagnosed with cancer when she was 18: "When you're travelling around a letter [about test results] could take a month or so to reach you.
"A month when it comes to cancer can be the difference whether you're alive or dead."
The family bought a plot of land near Exeter and Louise now shares a mobile home with one of her sisters next door to their parents' one.
She left school at 11 as a result of bullying and initially tried her hand at door-to-door selling but didn't have enough of the "gift of the gab" to follow in her parents' footsteps.
She said she never expected to get an office job because she had no qualifications.
However, she successfully got a job at an energy company in Exeter after meeting one of its employees when she was 22, who encouraged her to apply.
She said: "My parents are very supportive. They're like, if you want to do it, go on and give it a go."
One of her sisters works in TV production and the other manages a charity shop.
She said her Romany Gypsy heritage is "extremely" important.
"I can't imagine myself ending up with someone who's not a traveller, boyfriends have been travellers, that's very much a large part of who I am".
Out of work, her big passion is horses, she keeps three of them on her family's land and is in the process of qualifying as a natural horsemanship instructor.
Changing cultures
Penny Dane, from Plymouth and Devon Racial Equality Council, said: "Nowadays in Devon, most Gypsy families lead largely settled lives.
"Although the tradition of being self-employed continues, with many Gypsy men running successful businesses, the younger generation, particularly the girls, are increasingly seeking work in mainstream jobs."
She said traditional Romany Gypsy employment, like seasonal agricultural work or door-to-door selling, was becoming harder to find because of changes to farming practices and legislation to prevent roadside encampments.
Her comments are backed up by a recent report on economic and social inclusion for Gypsies and Travellers published by the Irish Traveller Movement in Britain (ITMB).
It found that the number of Gypsies and Travellers who earn a living through the traditional "Traveller Economy" has fallen by 50% in a generation.
It also found that women were far more likely than men to move into mainstream work.
Miss Broadway said she thought it was important for Gypsies and Travellers in full-time jobs to be open about who they are.
She said: "If you don't say to anyone [that you're a traveller] then they'll always think about the ones that they see in the press and the negative side of things.
"Until [travellers] do that it, it's hard for cultures to change."
Start Quote, “If you don't say to anyone [that you're a traveller] then they'll always think about the ones that they see in the press and the negative side of things” End Quote Louise Broadway
Penny leads fight to tackle negative views of Gypsies
Saturday, June 18, 2011
WHENEVER Penny Dane is asked what she does for a living the reaction is usually always the same – hostility. For almost 14 years Penny has worked alongside Gypsies and Travellers, acting as an advocate for them.
She knows all too well that just the mention of the words Gypsies and Travellers is enough to immediately provoke a negative reaction. Part of her job as a Gypsy and Traveller community development worker is to educate people about who they really are and where they come from.
raising awareness: Penny Dane is a community development worker for Gypsies and Travellers
It is the same aim of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month, which is taking place throughout June. It celebrates their culture and history by tackling the negative stereotyping, prejudices and ignorance that often leads to hatred and conflict in communities.
Penny, who works for the
"It's an umbrella group with very diverse groups within that. There is a huge lack of knowledge and awareness about who the different groups are and why they live the way they do.
"I suppose it's because when there are stories in the media about Gypsies and Travellers they are always negative ones so people assume that's the whole story.
"Obviously in every community there are different types of people, but I have worked very happily with Gypsies and Travellers for a very long time.
"What I come across is people are afraid of Gypsies and Travellers, yet they are working in all sorts of jobs. You could be working with someone from a Romany Gypsy background but they have just not told you.
"They are part of our community. In fact, Romany Gypsies have lived in
Penny, who is based in
She recalled: "When I was young there were Gypsies living on the roadside near where I lived. I got to know about them and the problems and challenges they had because people didn't accept them, so I did have an interest in their situation.
"In
"National statistics have shown that in
"A housing needs assessment in 2005 said 250 pitches were needed in
"That's why you usually see them living by the side of roads and you get overcrowding on official sites because of a lack of alternatives.
"Under the last government very positive steps in solving some of the accommodation and health issues for travellers were made, but unfortunately that is changing as the new government has new policies and it's not clear what's going to happen, but it may not be as favourable.
"Quite a few Gypsies and Travellers apply for permission if they can afford land, but often they have an uphill struggle, usually because of local opposition."
Penny reflected: "When permission is approved, very rarely are there any problems with the people who opposed them. They even become good friends afterwards as their fears are not realised.
"When people get to know people within the Gyspy and Traveller community they often don't have an issue with them. Perhaps it's fear of the unknown."
One of the most common misconceptions about Gypsies and Travellers Penny hears over and over again is they don't pay taxes. She says the reality is that they are not exempt.
"The law is you pay council tax for your main residence and it does not matter if you are on the side of the road or where ever you are," explained Penny.
"If a Gypsy site is built by the council they would pay rent and council tax just like you would in a housing association property.
"Another criticism I hear associated with them is debris. Some do leave an awful mess, but if they don't it's not a story so you don't get to hear about it.
"There are always ways round it. Some council's arrange a rubbish collection and portable toilets and travellers pay for them. It keeps the site clean and it makes Travellers feel they can stay. In
In Penny's job she has three main functions; Gypsy and Traveller awareness sessions throughout
She explained: "The awareness sessions I do is for voluntary and statutory organisations such as the police, health, education and social services. Gypsies and Travellers often don't access services they are entitled to because they often face discrimination when they do try to.
"The training sessions help create an understanding between Gypsies and Travellers and the wider community and help their needs to be understood.
"I also work on about 100 cases a year, working with individuals and families to resolve what ever the issue is. A lot of the cases I deal with relate to accommodation."
Penny's hope for the future is that jobs like hers won't exist because Gypsies and Travellers will finally be accepted as part of the community.
She said: "Once you get to know Gypsies and Travellers you find out they are just like anybody else. If you do see Gypsies by the side of the road it's because there's no accommodation for them.
"If we could make provisions for accommodation it would resolve that issue which does cause some communities tension.
"
"I should not really have to have a job. If there was not racism and discrimination my job would not exist as Gypsies and Travellers would be accepted as part of the community.
"I think the work we are doing is making small steps towards that. With the training and work we do in schools, I think it does have an impact and makes people think for themselves rather than just accepting what they have been told.
"If the next generation of children grow up to be more understanding about why Gypsies and Travellers live the life they do then it can only be helpful."
See Monday's paper for an interview with local Romany gypsy Lizzie Isaacs who is sharing her story in the hope of changing negative public perceptions of Gypsies and Travellers.
Travelling tales teach about life on the road
Monday, June 20, 2011
THERE are two sides to every story and, as a journalist, that has been drilled into me more than for most people.
Yet until recently, one side to which I had never really given much thought beyond the standard right of reply was that of gypsies and travellers.
Until this month, my only experience of them was visiting Irish Travellers who were illegally parked and very hostile towards outsiders.
Beyond that, like many, my experiences have been seeing camps beside roads or the mess they leave behind once evicted.
June is Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month, aimed at celebrating their culture and history. Getting them to share their stories is not easy, but more are beginning to in the hope of creating a better understanding.
One such person is mother-of-two Lizzie Isaacs. She has lived on a site near
For the last three years the 40-year-old has been employed as a sessional trainer with the
Part of her job involves going into secondary schools and showing an educational DVD called The Pride, The Prejudice, which Lizzie and some fellow Romany Gypsies helped make.
She said: "When I go into schools I don't say that I'm a gyspy; the pupils think I'm an invited guest.
"Before they watch the DVD, I give them a post-it note and ask them to write down what they think they know about gypsies and travellers.
"Usually it's things like 'they smell and don't wash', 'they live in caravans', 'they steal children', 'they are nasty to horses', 'they don't pay bills' and 'they kill rabbits'.
"It's stereotypes we have grown up with when we were at school but it does not stop at school. It goes on through adulthood and right through to employment and all parts of life.
"When I collect all the notes back I ask the class how many of them have ever talked to a gypsy or traveller?
"Usually two or three hands will go up but they will have all written pretty much negative things.
"That's when I show them the film and five minutes into it they will see me in it as a gypsy. They are always usually mortified when they find out who I am. Afterwards we have a questio-and-answer session, and they often ask really good questions.
"In one school in
"When that comes from a child you know that with proper education you can change public perception but there's so much negativity it's very difficult to get that across."
Lizzie comes from a family of four children. Her father, who laid asphalt for a living, died when she was four and her childhood was spent travelling during the summer months and settling with extended family and friends in winter.
Aged 14, she left school to continue the family's hawking trade but changes in the law meant they could no longer knock on doors and Lizzie ended up packing toiletries before getting married and raising a family.
"I couldn't have wished for a better childhood," recalled Lizzie. "School was quite traumatic as we did experience a lot of negativity and bullying.
"We were bought up by our parents and grandparents that the word gypsy was an insult. Our real name is Romany and our origins are from
"It took us 500 years to get to
"From then, society called us gypsies and almost everything negative was associated with the word.
"If you were take out the word gypsy and replace it with Muslim or Chinese in a story that would be a whole different scenario."
Lizzie's children, aged 12 and seven, have full-time schooling but it is rare for Gypsy children to finish secondary school.
Lizzie explained: "They are not safe in school. It's not just about being physically safe. If a child has to go to school pretending they are not what they are, what does that do to them?
"The child is constantly in fear their friends will find out they are a gypsy and that they will turn against them. That fear is very, very real."
Those who are educated are employed in all walks of life, yet often because they still conceal their real identity, she explained.
"Most go to work every day afraid to tell their colleagues as there is so much racism towards gypsies."
The future of gypsies and travellers in society is a worry for Lizzie.
She said: "We are living in a time of great change. There are not the stopping places that enable gypsies to travel so gypsies and travellers are becoming more settled. Being settled means education becomes a little bit easier.
"Gypsies are very good at adapting and that's why I don't believe the Gypsy race will ever die out.
"But I think it will change and move forward and will, in time, become part of society, yet still maintain our own ethnicity and culture. That's all we are fighting for."
See tomorrow's paper for an interview with Romany Gypsy Linda Broadway, who dismisses some of the myths about gypsies and travellers.
Linda has had to face a lifetime of prejudice
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
'GYPSIES don't pay tax', 'Gypsies are dirty' and 'Gypsies are an eyesore', are all criticisms and insults Linda Broadway has had to endure throughout her life.
The mother-of-three is a Romany Gypsy and her family have lived in
MAKING A POINT: Linda Broadway speaks about life as a member of the Romany Gypsy community
Although she calls
The main reasons for settling are that it is no longer so easy for gypsies and travellers to travel, and wanting her children to have a stable education.
The pride Linda has when she talks of her children, now 32, 27 and 23, is clear, especially as her youngest has had a university education which is very rare in the Gypsy and traveller community.
She is now working as a runner for Universal in
Linda, 56, said: "I'm so proud of them. My biggest achievement is my three daughters.
"I can't see them ever travelling because it's so hard, which is why so few families are doing it.
"But parts of the Gypsy heritage are so ingrained in them it will always be there, even if they do settle and marry a non-Gypsy."
Linda comes from a family of four children. Her father, a tarmac layer, died when she was young and her childhood was spent travelling during the summer months and settling with extended family and friends during the winter months.
When Linda left school at 11 she followed in the Gypsy tradition of hawking – selling goods. Linda said she was much happier than being at school.
She recalled: "I went to lots of different schools. The shortest time I was at one school was a day.
"At my last school there were one or two girls who were really quite nasty. They used to call me a 'dirty Gypsy' which really upset me as we washed every night before going to bed and our mum was very particular about our clothes."
The myth about gypsies being dirty is just one of many Linda has spent her life trying to ignore.
She has also strived to educate people about their culture. There are many different groups of travellers living in
Each group faces a high level of discrimination and prejudice in their daily lives. They also experience great difficulty in maintaining their lifestyle and heritage.
Romany Gypsies first came to
Among the myths associated with Gypsies is they are thieves and criminals. There is no evidence in police statistics of higher crime rates amongst gypsies than the general population.
Another popular misconception is Gypsies don't pay tax. Like everyone else, Gypsies pay road tax, council tax, VAT on goods and services, and income tax when they are working or self-employed.
A common criticism also regularly heard is Gypsies are an eyesore.
The large encampments are often oversubscribed with about 21 per cent of Gypsies and travellers in the
All these issues are ones Linda is able to address in her job as a sessional trainer for
Part of her role is visiting local primary schools to educate them about Gypsies and travellers.
Linda, who lives in Mid Devon on a site with her husband and two of their children, said: "I love it because it gives me a chance to be a granny. I show the children different pictures of gypsies and teach them about the history of Romany people.
"I also show them how to make paper flowers which is a traditional Gypsy craft.
"At their age they have hardly any prejudices. But within the space of a year of starting secondary school children take on all the stereotypes. It happens without fail.
"The younger you can educate children the better equipped they are about the facts rather than leaving them exposed to myths that have been around since the Victorian times.
"If I could say one thing to people it would be take us as you find us.
"Get to know us before you judge us. We are all different; we are individuals."
See tomorrow's paper for an interview with Gypsy Clarence Ware and his continuing fight for planning permission to provide a home for his family.
Constant struggle to find a place to settle
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
THE traditional values of wanting to look after your family and provide them with a home is still shared by many men, including Clarence Ware.
But what is making it harder for the 51-year-old to achieve that is that he is a Romany Gypsy who has so far been unable to get planning permission to reside on land he owns.
STRUGGLE: Clarence Ware is trying to find a site for his family to live
Clarence has been living on a site near Tedburn St Mary which is tucked out of sight and not intrusive with six other members of his family, including his 27-year-old son, for the past two years.
Last week, he was refused planning permission for the third time, on this occasion on the grounds of sustainability and road access.
Clarence's priority remains providing a home for his family so he has revised his application for a fourth time and is applying for just a family unit.
Clarence, an excavator driver, recalled: "I originally put in an application for a small site for my family, but I was advised to withdraw it by Teignbridge District Council and apply for 22 pitches, a much larger site, to help the burden the council has to provide pitches. We should have just applied for a family unit.
"The answer is councils must allow travellers who are willing to provide parcels on land in non-intrusive places to build sites. If we were allowed to run them they would be kept in order.
"We have all got to learn to live together. The country is becoming smaller and we have not got the space we used to have. There's not enough houses for non-travellers so if all of us stopped living in caravans there would be even less."
For Clarence and many other Gypsies and travellers it is modern life that is forcing them to become settled. It is a far cry from the lives his parents had when they travelled in tents and wagons.
Clarence revealed: "My mum was part of the well-known Richards family and was one of 22 children.
"They travelled around
"Then they upgraded to an old coach. In those days travellers travelled with the intention of working on the land for farmers and collected scrap.
"My dad's family were travelling showmen; they were fairground people. They travelled until 1960 when my grandfather settled in
It was always assumed that Clarence would one day follow in his father's footsteps, being an only child. His mother had a heart condition which meant she couldn't have any more children.
Looking back at his childhood Clarence said: "My life was more settled. I went to primary and secondary school and also went back to college to re-educate myself so I have got a good level of education."
It was fortunate he did because after his mother died at the age of 46, having suffered from rheumatoid arthritis brought about by the damp conditions she slept in, his dad passed away six weeks later of a heart attack.
Clarence was 19 and continued the family business. Years later he moved to
"It was like a piece of my life was missing," explained Clarence. "We travelled for a couple of years and went all over the country but it was not the same any more.
"People don't welcome you and we had to use a caravan that didn't look like a travellers' caravan."
Clarence and his family have now been living in
On their last attempt the family even invited members of the public to come to visit them on their site to gain some understanding of their need to find a home. Many did just that and Clarence is hopeful that more people will come to accept them in the future.
He said: "The worst thing I come across is what I call the Nimby situation – not in my back yard. Wherever we stop there's always someone who wants to oppose us. It's constant pressure.
"I believe it is wrong to prejudge a person on a perception of a number of people. That's what I'm up against.
"If I was to die tomorrow my son would not have a chance. He couldn't stand the pressure I'm under, but they will get to the point where they will not put up with it any more like I have. I will fight until the end."