Last updated 09:09, Friday, 08 August 2008

In 21st century Britain there is a big push towards multiculturalism, towards breaking down generations-old barriers and encouraging different religions and cultures to live together as one.

louise Wannop

Our children now have parts of their school curriculum devoted to learning about Muslim traditions or Jewish ceremonies, researching African countries and celebrating special occasions like the Chinese new year.

But even in today’s climate, most people still do not think of gypsies and travellers in the same way and know little about their culture.

In Cumbria, it has been identified that there is a major lack of facilities for these people – a recognised ethnic minority group – prompting a countywide push for change.

At the same time a recent conference in Penrith focused on the historic tensions between the travelling and settled communities and looked at how these could be eased.

However, as councils in Cumbria try to address the immediate problems by providing permanent sites for gypsies and travellers to set up camp, the issue of where they will go is already causing a stir.

Last week Carlisle City Council submitted a £2million bid for a share of government funding reserved for gypsies.

It plans to use the cash to create a permanent site for gypsy and traveller families to set up home, giving them an official base to live at and come back to all year round.

The location chosen for this development is likely to be the existing Ghyll Bank caravan site at Harker, which already has planning permission for 15 pitches. The council would use the money to develop this site, creating a green park space surrounded by traveller pitches, each with their own amenities block, containing a bathroom and shower area, kitchen and utility area. There would also be a communal meeting area and base for a full-time warden.

Yet tensions are already rising in the surrounding area, where some residents have mounted a petition against the proposed development.

Louise Wannop, who helps run the Pre-School Learning Alliance’s travellers project, believes this is largely due to the lack of understanding of gypsies and travellers, their culture and its origin – which dates back generations.

Having been born into a travelling family herself, Mrs Wannop grew up speaking their language, Cant and moving around in a trailer.

She has since married into the settled community and chosen to give up life on the road for a permanent house in Morton, Carlisle. But, having suffered years of prejudice growing up, she is now determined to help break down the barriers in society so that her own children do not have to go through the same thing.

Over the years she has seen travellers denied access to nightclubs or be told to leave a shop simply because of who they are. She believes this prejudice is unfair and unfounded, as the majority of gypsies just want to live a normal life.

Mrs Wannop is not naive. She is the first to admit that not all travellers are responsible but says the majority are and simply want a chance to fit in.

She said a minority do cause trouble and leave areas a mess but it is not fair to tar everyone with the same brush.

“There’s good and bad in every community and culture. There are good and bad Muslims, there are good and bad Christians,” she said.

“All these people want is to be treated the same as anyone else. And if a few individuals cause trouble then the authorities can take action, just like they would if someone caused trouble on a housing estate.”

Mrs Wannop is now a family support coordinator, working with gypsies and travellers around the county to give them a voice. She runs a series of pre-school and after-school sessions for gypsy children and adult learning classes to teach older generations how to use computers, surf the internet and further their education. She is also willing to speak out on their behalf when it comes to legal and planning matters.

She is particularly keen to help young families find a permanent pitch, as some currently have no toilet facilities or showers for their children.

She believes that, if the council does press ahead with plans to develop the Harker site, it will give gypsies a chance to prove they are just normal people who take their children to school, shop in the supermarket and recycle their rubbish.

One person who is more than keen for this development to go ahead is Mrs Miller, a 27-year-old, married mother-of-one. Coming from a settled family in Carlisle, she had always socialised with gypsy children as a teenager.

She eventually fell in love with a traveller and chose to adopt their way of life. Her family have given her their full support, though she admits that some of her friends and work-mates were shocked.

Mr and Mrs Miller were married four years ago in Carlisle and initially lived on farmland near Penrith but were eventually moved on. However without a permanent site in Cumbria, they had nowhere to go.

As a result they were forced to travel to Newcastle to find a pitch, a move which also meant Mrs Miller had to give up her job. Now with a baby son, she dreams of being able to move back to Cumbria so she can bring him up near her family.

“I’m born and bred in Carlisle, we were married here and my son was Christened here, yet we can’t live here because there is nowhere to go,” she explained.

“I married into this so can see it from both sides. I’ve always been socially accepted then all of a sudden I married a traveller and people started to turn their noses up at me, yet I haven’t changed at all.

“It’s really a lack of understanding. They see gypsies as second-class citizens just because they don’t want to live in houses. My husband has never known that, he couldn’t settle in a house and I couldn’t ask him to, it would be like caging him.

“I have chosen to live the way I do and I have no regrets about it. It’s a lovely life.

“We just want a chance to be part of the community.”

One of those already living at Harker, on land she owns, is mother-of-five Ellen.

She believes that although there is still a general misunderstanding of the travelling community, attitudes are gradually changing in communities where gypsies are living.

The 44-year-old said a good example of that is Houghton primary school, where all her children, now aged between 10 and 22, have been educated.

“When I first started taking my eldest, people didn’t know us and gypsies were taboo. The other parents didn’t understand us,” she explained.

“But now they have got to know us they are lovely people and invite our children round for tea and to birthday parties.

“You’ll always get the odd one but the majority now accept us as part of the community.”

She said the main thing is for people to realise that the traditional stereotype of gypsies is far from accurate these days.

Like many travellers, Ellen lives in a big mobile home and if you look inside, it is just like most regular houses.

As well as having separate living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms, they also have all the modern commodities including television, computer and washing machine.

“People think that gypsies are dirty people who live rough. That’s not the case. Our children are always clean and we are civilised people,” she said.

Ellen, whose husband is a self-employed horse dealer, also believes that there is a underlying resentment of government money being spent on travellers. But she says they pay their taxes too and are therefore entitled to the same level of council support.

She added that like her, many gypsies would also be happy to buy their own land to set up home on but planning regulations are weighted against them.

They had to fight for years to get their existing pitch permitted and will have to go through it all again when it runs out in two years.

Ultimately she said gypsies just want people to realise that although they have their own culture and traditions, they are still the same underneath.

“People just get the wrong end of the stick because they don’t understand us.

“We want what everyone else wants; to be happy and be able to bring our children up to the best of our abilities.

“It’s no different because we don’t live in houses.”