Wells on Sea...no go area!

[Fisherman]

I haven't read all of the comments above but some of the general 'feel' of the posts make me really sad. My Grandad was a Romany gypsy and many of my mum's standards came from this culture. All I can say is that the Gypsies ( and I cannot comment on travelers ) have very high standards of conduct and hygiene and my mum was obsessive about cleanliness and tidiness. Having lived in other countries during my life I am also aware that people are people and all communities have good and bad, unfortunately we often choose to only note the bad and tar everyone with that brush. If we used the same criteria to judge ourselves we could not be so self righteous about our own 'high' standards. Only last week I was in a once pristine NT carpark and it had pile of toilet paper that had obviously come out of a MH cassette toilet. One of our local roads is used by MH and vans in the summer and I do not think that any of us could be proud of the state many leave behind despite it being a protected nature reserve. I don't think we can say that 'they' are bad and 'we' are good. I hate the laws in this country that do not allow us to park overnight but also accept that most of time I am actually, probably breaking some law or bylaw by sleeping in my van. Please try to treat people as you would want to be treated and judge people as you find them not by prejudice or stereotyping. PS One post used the word Pikey because it was able to be used on this group when the word he wanted to use was not, I would like to say that in 2022 I wonder what these standards are based on.

Gypsies and travellers have different requirements than we have suneye.
But they suffer from the same press misrepresentation that we do.
Whats important to us that we are not treated as them.
And I don’t say that in an offensive or detrimental way.

We don’t require education for our children, use of medical facilities, and many other things. We don’t tend to remain in situ for long periods.

You are spot on we have idiots amongst us, I have seen poor selfish behaviour myself, and so does every other group you could mention who arrive in local communities.

I can only apologise if you felt that some comments were unfair, but please remember that this thread was created due to such poor behaviour not from any in here, but from Norfolk County Council, and the police towards the gypsie and traveller communities, something that Tom has highlighted in his dealings with the council on this matter.

 

[Robmac]

Gypsies and travellers have different requirements than we have suneye.
But they suffer from the same press misrepresentation that we do.
Whats important to us that we are not treated as them.
And I don’t say that in an offensive or detrimental way.

We don’t require education for our children, use of medical facilities, and many other things. We don’t tend to remain in situ for long periods.

You are spot on we have idiots amongst us, I have seen poor selfish behaviour myself, and so does every other group you could mention who arrive in local communities.

I can only apologise if you felt that some comments were unfair, but please remember that this thread was created due to such poor behaviour not from any in here, but from Norfolk County Council, and the police towards the gypsie and traveller communities.

Well said Bill.

Suneye is right regarding Gypsies, I know several - some of the nicest people I have ever met, some not so but a minority as in most groups. I have been in their caravans and you could eat your dinner off of the floor, I have drunk with them and had the time of my life! They never forget you and always come over with a hearty handshake if they come in my local. Also the most respectful people you will ever see down at the cemetery. I know I don't really need to tell you any of this.

There were a lot of problems in Norfolk, a whole town terrorised by travellers, but these people were an entirely different group altogether. You are of course right though, we have different needs and in that respect these differences should be recognised and addressed.

 

[Fisherman]

Well said Bill.

Suneye is right regarding Gypsies, I know several - some of the nicest people I have ever met, some not so but a minority as in most groups. I have been in their caravans and you could eat your dinner off of the floor, I have drunk with them and had the time of my life! They never forget you and always come over with a hearty handshake if they come in my local. Also the most respectful people you will ever see down at the cemetery. I know I don't really need to tell you any of this.

There were a lot of problems in Norfolk, a whole town terrorised by travellers, but these people were an entirely different group altogether. You are of course right though, we have different needs and in that respect these differences should be recognised and addressed.

I totally agree Rob.

 

[suneye]

I agree that our needs are different that wasn't my point. My point was that not all Gypsies and travelers are messy, badly behaved and terrorise the local community and not all wild campers spend money in the local community, abide by laws and by-laws and are by default respectful of their surroundings. I just think we have to remember that these people are people like us trying to get by the best they can but unlike most of us, do not have the security of a house to run back to. I am not saying that bad behavior should not be called out or dealt with by the law and Gypsies themselves do not like behavior that brings them into disrepute but some (by no means all) of the language I wanted to challenge. It is not right to condemn a whole community into a sin bin and therefore justify being rude and disrespectful including using words whose equivalent for other groups would not be tolerated and to remember for every criticism that sparks that attitude the same finger could be pointed back at this community. Call me woke or a snowflake I don't care I have seen how much standing up for black rights has affected my black daughter and if I feel this disrespect two generations removed I feel I should point it out and I am happy to have the freedom to speak my mind on this open minded forum.