Memories and Stories
Here are just a few short stories from our members:-
On the Drom from Phil
One hot day in Cornwall, I had to do a short move to a fresh graze for the horses. After a couple of miles we came to a hill, so I gee'd up the wagon horse, but halfway up the gry started slipping, which was unusual for him, then he ground to a halt. I looked back and realised that some new tarmac on the road had gone soft in the heat, so the iron tyres had sunk in enough to hold the wagon to stop it going backwards, but it couldn't go forward. However, my luck was with me that day, in the car behind was four big rugby players on their way to a match, and they took great delight in giving us a push up!!
Amy's Memories
Cousin Rose and I used to visit Granny Light when she lived in a big yard with the rest of her family in Walthamstow, and that was where our grandfather had rows of caravans for all his family to live in. They were all into logs, chickens, rabbits and pegs, and they had a big vegetable patch at the back of the yard. Many things are written about Gypsies, but one myth you can disregard is that they were all thieves, because they were not and they had a strong affinity to God and his land. I remember we were all taught to be good, clean and honest and to use the gifts God gave us, and believe me - every one of us had a special talent .......
An Old Mawken (Scarecrow) from Ian Orchard
I was told that my Granny once chopped (swapped) dresses with an old mawken in a field because it had a better dress on than her!
Arabian Nights - from Jean Hope
Once I was employed at a hotel guesthouse and part of my job was to go in the evenings to turn-down the beds. Imagine my surprise the first time I entered all thirty-six rooms to find every bed covered with bedspreads made of blue and gold silk thread, with long tassels and Arabic scenes of Arabs sitting on camels, palm trees, etc., Immediately I knew where they'd come from! Besides selling bedspreads, my Dad also sold rugs and carpets of Persian design and when I was young I would go with him when he "called" in this very area. When I saw those bedspreads it was quite obvious to me that Dad had had a good touch there - bless him!
Ethel's flowers!
When Ethel Florence first "went indoors", she found she loved her new garden - but she was always moving the plants. One day her neighbour leaned over the fence and said to her "Ethel - you may have stopped travelling - but your plants haven't!"
Baked Potatoes - From Vanslow Smith
"....... Meanwhile, I would be finding the largest potatoes possible, and slipping through to the fire, would take out a few ashes and cover my potatoes knowing they would be cooked in about 30 minutes. I would then take them across to our vardos and share them out, fill them with dripping and salt and enjoy them. They were the best baked potatoes ever!"
Bendigo Lee
A report in the Liverpool Mercury in 1913 states that a Bendigo Lee celebrated every addition to his family by crumbling a whole loaf around his wagon so that his child would never be short of bread!
Adders - From Ian Orchard
In about 1840, my family moved from Oxfordshire to Devon with pack donkeys and bender tents. One morning they were picking up the covers and loading them onto the donkeys' backs, when one of the animals fell down. They lifted it up and down it went again, so they took the cloths off and there was an adder wrapped up in them - it must have crawled in there for the warmth or the smells or something!
Tight fit!
"Sometimes you'd see the man riding up on top of the wagon and the old Gypsy lady toddling alongside with the dog tied underneath and a box where they kept the hens and all that in. There'd be about twenty converging around the wagons, so you assumed they all belonged to the same caravan. I don't know if they did, but how they all slept in it was a marvel - must have been head to toe and side to side to get in!"
Pugging - by Dave Laws
Dave Williams taught the rest of us how to do proper pugging (ferreting) like - no smoking, no treading on berries and no aftershave! One cold Saturday morning we caught 132 rabbits using two pugs from one continuous warren and 150 nets, just by picking up the nets and moving them on. Because we had so many rabbits that day, we made sure the foxes couldn't get them by hanging them up in a tree. It was hard work, but once we'd killed them, paunched them and crossed their legs, it wasn't too hard to hang them up!
Snuff - from Alan Smith
When I was a boy, Granny Light sent me off to get her some snuff. I had to walk miles to get it in Staplehurst, going all through the troughs to get the blooming stuff - and when I got back, all I got was a crack round the earhole for taking so long!
Chickens - From Peter Nice
When Gypsies came to the area, they traded fair and to the nail. Village folk knew them to be "of the word" and scrupulously clean. However, if on the odd occasion a local's wandering chicken should mistake a couldron for a coop in starlight - well accidents will happen!
Poacher's Pockets - from Mary Horner
Whenever my Dad Johnny Hearn got a new jacket, the first thing he did was to sew a "Poacher's pocket" inside where he kept his money safe from robbers - and from prying eyes!
Wagons in Western Australia
In our 2nd journal, Romany Road member Kathi Suminer, who lives outside Perth, Western Australia, sent us a story and some photos of wagons she and her partner Royce have discovered on their travels. John Pockett, one of this country's finest wagon restorers and painter (who is also a member of Romany Road), has kindly given his opinion as to the authenticity of the wagons and what changes have been made to them over the years
Fairies - from Ethel Florence
One day I was sent to fetch water from the well, but I dawdled and played and took a long time to get back to our wagons. Now as a child I often told lies, and to avoid getting into trouble, I told everyone I'd seen fairies, a little woman and a little man, down at the well. Everybody was talking about it, and next day one of the other Traveller women went down to the well and came back saying ......... she'd seen the fairies too!!
Mark Ripley from Barbara Walsh
My g.g.grandfather Mark Ripley was baptised at Hailsham, Sussex on 22.4.1849. Mark had many donkeys and everyone knew him. When a new road came, they wanted it called Donkey Lane, the people only knew it as that because of Mark and his donkeys, but the Council said 'No' and called it Falcon Way
Our Baby Sister from Carol Hoskins
We had a baby sister called Julia and when she was aged about three or four months old she died. I was four at the time, but I can remember Mum putting things in the coffin with her, a little dress and shoes, etc., but she burnt the rest and buried her pram!
Big Tent? - from Ian Orchard
"They say he had an ancestor who married and went to live with her husband in Wales. It's said they went on to have twenty-eight children - must have had a big tent!!"
Queen Victoria and the Gypsies - Mary Horner
For most of her life, Queen Victoria sketched and painted, and over fifty of her albums and sketch pads survive. In 1836, just before she came to the throne, she made friends with a family of Gypsies who became the subject of some of her work. The mother of the tribe was Sarah Cooper and following their meetings, Victoria showed kindness and concern for their welfare. When a baby was born, she sent food and blankets to the family and in 1837 wrote "How often these poor creasures have been falsely accused, cruelly wrong and greatly ill-treated"
Holly Baskets - from Sonny Scarratt
When I was 12 years old, me and my brother made a load of holly baskets to try to make some money for Christmas. We threaded about 36 onto a long branch, put it up on our shoulders and went all round the houses selling them. One women bought four, but only after she'd taken a photo of us holding them all on the stick, she thought it was such an unusual and nice sight!
Another time I wanted some holly to make holly baskets, so during the day I scouted round looking for a tree. I found one with a nice holly and lots of berries that was hanging over the road down a quiet lane. That night I went back with a step ladder on my back, climbed up to the top of the tree and was just leaning out on a branch when I saw a light coming towards me down the road. As it passed beneath me, I could see it was a lady on a bike, so I held my breathe and hung on for dear life until she'd gone well past. By that time I was prickled to death and I don't know how I stopped myself yelling out with pain!
Winter Draughts - from Ian Orchard
My Granny Harriet Penfold said her father used to collect bracken to put around the walls of the tent to keep the draughts out in the winter. She can just remember everyone in the tent - six boys on one side, three or four girls on the other, and parents in the middle!
Hale and Hearty
The residents of Hale were objecting to the presence of a Gypsy encampment, so the Council's Medical Officer was asked to make an inspection with unexpected results! He examined the interior of the tents and vans, but had no complaint to make on sanitary grounds. The Doctor fell in love with some of the children, especially a year-old child who was being washed by his mother, finding himself lost in admiration at the child's perfect form. He later reported back to the Council that "It would be hard to find a healthier lot of children!"
Is it True?
Some Gypsies said that if you saw a black beetle running across the ground, rain was on the way - and they could tell if adders were about because there's always a 'musty' smell!!
Born in a Big Grand Pub
Not all Travellers were born in tents, wagons or under hedges! My Aunt Harriet always told us she was born in "A big grand pub". My Dad said it was true, but didn't know where it was. It was always "Somewhere down in the country" or "Miles away from nowhere", or "At the back of beyond". He never knew names of roads, only one place he knew by name because they stopped there one year working on a farm, most times they were on the road
Homing Bird from Ethel
When I was about eight years old, my family were stopping in wagons in Cwm Bach Wood, Llanelli. When we wanted crisps and things, us children would walk down to a pub at the end of the wood. The man there was called Ben and he also sold chickens and ducks and was nice to us Gypsy children. One day we bought a chicken from him but it went up into the wagon to lay it's eggs. When we grabbed the chicken to throw it out, we must have injured it in some way because it seemed half dead, so we took it back to the man and asked to swap the chicken for a duck. Now Ben must have realised there was something wrong with the chicken, but he agreed we could take a duck and let us choose a nice one with a red comb on its head. So we carried it back to the wood and set if free by the wagons, but it soon flew back home to the man and we realised he must have known that when he let us have it!!!
On the Drom from Phil
One hot day in Cornwall, I had to do a short move to a fresh graze for the horses. After a couple of miles we came to a hill, so I gee'd up the wagon horse, but halfway up the gry started slipping, which was unusual for him, then he ground to a halt. I looked back and realised that some new tarmac on the road had gone soft in the heat, so the iron tyres had sunk in enough to hold the wagon to stop it going backwards, but it couldn't go forward. However, my luck was with me that day, in the car behind was four big rugby players on their way to a match, and they took great delight in giving us a push up!!
Amy's Memories
Cousin Rose and I used to visit Granny Light when she lived in a big yard with the rest of her family in Walthamstow, and that was where our grandfather had rows of caravans for all his family to live in. They were all into logs, chickens, rabbits and pegs, and they had a big vegetable patch at the back of the yard. Many things are written about Gypsies, but one myth you can disregard is that they were all thieves, because they were not and they had a strong affinity to God and his land. I remember we were all taught to be good, clean and honest and to use the gifts God gave us, and believe me - every one of us had a special talent .......
An Old Mawken (Scarecrow) from Ian Orchard
I was told that my Granny once chopped (swapped) dresses with an old mawken in a field because it had a better dress on than her!
Arabian Nights - from Jean Hope
Once I was employed at a hotel guesthouse and part of my job was to go in the evenings to turn-down the beds. Imagine my surprise the first time I entered all thirty-six rooms to find every bed covered with bedspreads made of blue and gold silk thread, with long tassels and Arabic scenes of Arabs sitting on camels, palm trees, etc., Immediately I knew where they'd come from! Besides selling bedspreads, my Dad also sold rugs and carpets of Persian design and when I was young I would go with him when he "called" in this very area. When I saw those bedspreads it was quite obvious to me that Dad had had a good touch there - bless him!
Ethel's flowers!
When Ethel Florence first "went indoors", she found she loved her new garden - but she was always moving the plants. One day her neighbour leaned over the fence and said to her "Ethel - you may have stopped travelling - but your plants haven't!"
Baked Potatoes - From Vanslow Smith
"....... Meanwhile, I would be finding the largest potatoes possible, and slipping through to the fire, would take out a few ashes and cover my potatoes knowing they would be cooked in about 30 minutes. I would then take them across to our vardos and share them out, fill them with dripping and salt and enjoy them. They were the best baked potatoes ever!"
Bendigo Lee
A report in the Liverpool Mercury in 1913 states that a Bendigo Lee celebrated every addition to his family by crumbling a whole loaf around his wagon so that his child would never be short of bread!
Adders - From Ian Orchard
In about 1840, my family moved from Oxfordshire to Devon with pack donkeys and bender tents. One morning they were picking up the covers and loading them onto the donkeys' backs, when one of the animals fell down. They lifted it up and down it went again, so they took the cloths off and there was an adder wrapped up in them - it must have crawled in there for the warmth or the smells or something!
Tight fit!
"Sometimes you'd see the man riding up on top of the wagon and the old Gypsy lady toddling alongside with the dog tied underneath and a box where they kept the hens and all that in. There'd be about twenty converging around the wagons, so you assumed they all belonged to the same caravan. I don't know if they did, but how they all slept in it was a marvel - must have been head to toe and side to side to get in!"
Pugging - by Dave Laws
Dave Williams taught the rest of us how to do proper pugging (ferreting) like - no smoking, no treading on berries and no aftershave! One cold Saturday morning we caught 132 rabbits using two pugs from one continuous warren and 150 nets, just by picking up the nets and moving them on. Because we had so many rabbits that day, we made sure the foxes couldn't get them by hanging them up in a tree. It was hard work, but once we'd killed them, paunched them and crossed their legs, it wasn't too hard to hang them up!
Snuff - from Alan Smith
When I was a boy, Granny Light sent me off to get her some snuff. I had to walk miles to get it in Staplehurst, going all through the troughs to get the blooming stuff - and when I got back, all I got was a crack round the earhole for taking so long!
Chickens - From Peter Nice
When Gypsies came to the area, they traded fair and to the nail. Village folk knew them to be "of the word" and scrupulously clean. However, if on the odd occasion a local's wandering chicken should mistake a couldron for a coop in starlight - well accidents will happen!
Poacher's Pockets - from Mary Horner
Whenever my Dad Johnny Hearn got a new jacket, the first thing he did was to sew a "Poacher's pocket" inside where he kept his money safe from robbers - and from prying eyes!
Wagons in Western Australia
In our 2nd journal, Romany Road member Kathi Suminer, who lives outside Perth, Western Australia, sent us a story and some photos of wagons she and her partner Royce have discovered on their travels. John Pockett, one of this country's finest wagon restorers and painter (who is also a member of Romany Road), has kindly given his opinion as to the authenticity of the wagons and what changes have been made to them over the years
Fairies - from Ethel Florence
One day I was sent to fetch water from the well, but I dawdled and played and took a long time to get back to our wagons. Now as a child I often told lies, and to avoid getting into trouble, I told everyone I'd seen fairies, a little woman and a little man, down at the well. Everybody was talking about it, and next day one of the other Traveller women went down to the well and came back saying ......... she'd seen the fairies too!!
Mark Ripley from Barbara Walsh
My g.g.grandfather Mark Ripley was baptised at Hailsham, Sussex on 22.4.1849. Mark had many donkeys and everyone knew him. When a new road came, they wanted it called Donkey Lane, the people only knew it as that because of Mark and his donkeys, but the Council said 'No' and called it Falcon Way
Our Baby Sister from Carol Hoskins
We had a baby sister called Julia and when she was aged about three or four months old she died. I was four at the time, but I can remember Mum putting things in the coffin with her, a little dress and shoes, etc., but she burnt the rest and buried her pram!
Big Tent? - from Ian Orchard
"They say he had an ancestor who married and went to live with her husband in Wales. It's said they went on to have twenty-eight children - must have had a big tent!!"
Queen Victoria and the Gypsies - Mary Horner
For most of her life, Queen Victoria sketched and painted, and over fifty of her albums and sketch pads survive. In 1836, just before she came to the throne, she made friends with a family of Gypsies who became the subject of some of her work. The mother of the tribe was Sarah Cooper and following their meetings, Victoria showed kindness and concern for their welfare. When a baby was born, she sent food and blankets to the family and in 1837 wrote "How often these poor creasures have been falsely accused, cruelly wrong and greatly ill-treated"
Holly Baskets - from Sonny Scarratt
When I was 12 years old, me and my brother made a load of holly baskets to try to make some money for Christmas. We threaded about 36 onto a long branch, put it up on our shoulders and went all round the houses selling them. One women bought four, but only after she'd taken a photo of us holding them all on the stick, she thought it was such an unusual and nice sight!
Another time I wanted some holly to make holly baskets, so during the day I scouted round looking for a tree. I found one with a nice holly and lots of berries that was hanging over the road down a quiet lane. That night I went back with a step ladder on my back, climbed up to the top of the tree and was just leaning out on a branch when I saw a light coming towards me down the road. As it passed beneath me, I could see it was a lady on a bike, so I held my breathe and hung on for dear life until she'd gone well past. By that time I was prickled to death and I don't know how I stopped myself yelling out with pain!
Winter Draughts - from Ian Orchard
My Granny Harriet Penfold said her father used to collect bracken to put around the walls of the tent to keep the draughts out in the winter. She can just remember everyone in the tent - six boys on one side, three or four girls on the other, and parents in the middle!
Hale and Hearty
The residents of Hale were objecting to the presence of a Gypsy encampment, so the Council's Medical Officer was asked to make an inspection with unexpected results! He examined the interior of the tents and vans, but had no complaint to make on sanitary grounds. The Doctor fell in love with some of the children, especially a year-old child who was being washed by his mother, finding himself lost in admiration at the child's perfect form. He later reported back to the Council that "It would be hard to find a healthier lot of children!"
Is it True?
Some Gypsies said that if you saw a black beetle running across the ground, rain was on the way - and they could tell if adders were about because there's always a 'musty' smell!!
Born in a Big Grand Pub
Not all Travellers were born in tents, wagons or under hedges! My Aunt Harriet always told us she was born in "A big grand pub". My Dad said it was true, but didn't know where it was. It was always "Somewhere down in the country" or "Miles away from nowhere", or "At the back of beyond". He never knew names of roads, only one place he knew by name because they stopped there one year working on a farm, most times they were on the road
Homing Bird from Ethel
When I was about eight years old, my family were stopping in wagons in Cwm Bach Wood, Llanelli. When we wanted crisps and things, us children would walk down to a pub at the end of the wood. The man there was called Ben and he also sold chickens and ducks and was nice to us Gypsy children. One day we bought a chicken from him but it went up into the wagon to lay it's eggs. When we grabbed the chicken to throw it out, we must have injured it in some way because it seemed half dead, so we took it back to the man and asked to swap the chicken for a duck. Now Ben must have realised there was something wrong with the chicken, but he agreed we could take a duck and let us choose a nice one with a red comb on its head. So we carried it back to the wood and set if free by the wagons, but it soon flew back home to the man and we realised he must have known that when he let us have it!!!