I did a quick tour of Midsummer Fair with Monty this morning. In the corner are three beautifully looked after gypsy horses and three stunning caravans. I asked the man minding the caravans if he minded me photographing them and he directed me towards a sign by the caravan. It said £5 for a photo with the gypsy queen or £1 'take your own' - proceeds to the restoration fund. I was quite tempted by the £5 offer but the queen wasn't around (surprisingly, given the regularity of my royal encounters recently!!) and I offered him £1 for a 'take your own' version. At that point he said, 'Oh just be quick and take it for nothing.' It occurred to me that he couldn't read the notice and so wasn't sure about the 'take your own' bit. Illiteracy is a real problem for traveller communities here - it makes life difficult and they are quite vulnerable as they often can't read at all. Real efforts are being made to educate the children on the move - these are quite wealthy communities and the education authorities are devising internet based lessons for children. Last year the first Fairground Traveller was accepted at Cambridge University, studying History. She was interviewed for the local paper and said that a teacher at a school she attended for a term or two told her she was clever and could go to university if she worked hard. After years of coming to Midsummer Fair she aimed for Cambridge.
Anyway this was a nice man with lovely kids playing around and a cute puppy living in the kennel (just on the right of this shot) and I didn't want to take advantage of him by taking ages so I did a few quick snaps - I did get the whole kennel in a different shot but I wanted to try to show some of the insides of the caravan - incredible - and they all have a canary in a cage on the front.
What an interesting mount of information Judith & well done to the clever girl at Cambridge ! some of the clever ones will probably be quite frustrated at not being in one place long enough to get some settled education . This is a wonderful colourful caravan & I love the way you have it against the colourless background !! This is not just selective colouring it's special stuff I wouldn't know how to attempt !
Nice edit - I see you're experimenting a lot lately and I like it! I really hope the campaign against illiteracy will be successful, I simply can't imagine not being able to read.
This is a great find Judith, I remember these caravans as a child when they would camp near us. They really were outcasts back then and the children did not go to school at all.Of course we kids thought it was wonderful for them and all very romantic. It was not till I was older did I realise they were camped on a dump with rats etc.When an elder died they burnt the caravan with all their possesions in it.It is much better here for them as well and getting better.
This is so incredible and all new to me. I'm going to have to do some research on Traveller communities/gypsy caravans. We don't have anything like that in the US and I'm intrigued. Wonderful photo!
@halkia No not really - and, as Bernadette says, there aren't very many left as when gypsies died it was traditional to burn the caravan with all their possessions in them. These ones are beautifully restored though. They also had an enormous horse box for the horses and an enormous RV type vehicle (cost a fortune - as much as a house). Quite a few of the fairground travellers live in thse while others live in ordinary caravans.
Fantastic shot, and superb processing :-) My friend (who lives in Cambridge) 's dad has written books about folk art he is called Lewery - they are lovely books.
great selective colouring ....it almost looks 3D
good post