Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 June 2010.

Milton Country Park, Cambridge.

As part of Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month a festival celebrating traditional crafts and the culture of Gypsy/Romany/Traveller people is being held in the lush setting of Milton Country Park, just off of the A14 at Cambridge. Entry is free to this celebration of music and dancing, peg-turning and flower-making, wagons and trailers, and traditional foods. There will even be the regional final of the Travellers’ Got Talent contest!

Gates open at 10:00, with things winding down around 16:00.

Milton Country Park, Cambridge, CB24 6AZ

At lunchtime today the team gathered for lunch in Ipswich to bid farewell to Jane, our Project Co-ordinator. Jane has worked on the Atching Tan project since October 2008, primarily taking responsibility for fostering and maintaining relationships with our volunteers and with other organisations. Recently she has been our editorial wizard, taking the recordings from the reminiscence strand and whipping them into shape so that we can actually listen to them! She’s moving on to be a Family Support Worker for Suffolk County Council, focusing her attentions on the needs of deaf children and their families.

The past few weeks have seen me do little else than beaver away in the library, working on the content of the education pack. I’m pleased with the progress that I’ve made with it. Seven of the nine sections that explore different elements of Gypsy/Romany/Traveller life have been drafted. There are teachers’ notes, suggested activities to use in lessons, and further resources to support the topics. The rest of the team is currently proofing these sections for me and providing their critical comments. I’m looking forward to reading their opinions and suggestions. I know that the content will change before publication, that’s inevitable. It might even change quite radically in some instances, but having so much definite material is giving me an enormous sense of satisfaction.

This week I have focused entirely on the development of the education pack.

After a long period of contemplation and some discussion with members of the Gypsy/Romany/Traveller community, the key themes that the pack will explore have been identified. They have all arisen from the recordings conducted as part of the reminiscence strand of the project, which form the spine of the pack. It is possible that the themes will change, but currently they are: change, hopes and fears; discrimination; entertainment; homes; Romani; school and education; travelling; Traveller identity; and work and employment.

It seems to have been a very long time in coming, since I started planning revamping the RTC website about a year ago, but finally the day has arrived. The new RTC website went live around midnight.

Throughout the redesign process I’ve been keen to ensure that the new website ‘feels’ the same as the old one, but that it is more accessible for you – the people who use it. I wanted something that was easy to navigate, that contained the information you wanted to know, and that the information was communicated appropriately.

Welcome to our new website!

As the previous incarnation of the website was a few years old, we felt that it deserved a bit of a spring clean and a touch of modernisation.

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20 May 2005: Ipswich Advertiser

Friday night’s Romany Theatre Company production of Our Big Land saw a sell out audience pack the Gatacre Road auditorium, quite an achievement for a new company and a new play.

Writer Daniel Allum has weaved an epic narrative.

Director Janeena Sims uses a cast of four professional actors and four highly talented young performers to portray a vast array of characters. Aided by some stirring music by Pat Whymark and choreography by Liz Lee the many scenes and locale flow with an almost cinematic quality.

At the heart of this versatile company are commanding performances by Josephine Cooper as Oceania and Tracy Elster as Sophie. Brother and Sister Ruth and David Soanes also excel beyond their years. Richard Mainwaring among other roles, is broodingly evil as a German death camp guard.

Both communities should find interest in a story rarely told on stage in this passionate and powerful performance.

– Glen Pearce

27 May 2005: Fenland Arts

One woman’s personal story provides the background to the unfolding tale of her people’s exodus from India, the persecution and prosecution they faced when they arrived in Europe, and the atrocities they endured in the Nazi concentration camps during World War Two.

Oceania Farr, played brilliantly by Josephine Cooper, brought us both laughter and tears.

We were inspired by the talent and energy of the young people in this production.

The songs and dances were breathtakingly beautiful and held an appreciative audience spellbound throughout the show.

The show should be made compulsory viewing for those whose prejudice and lack of tolerance prevents them from accepting the Romanies’ right to uphold their ancient traditions and way of life.

– Sandie Miles and Trevor Leah