News & Events

Last year Romany Road attended the Living Van Weekend event held at

Blists Hill Victorian Village.

Because it was such an enjoyable event, we have booked once again this year

for details click on red tab   ...............   LIVING VAN EVENT

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ROMANI ROOTS!

A Celebration of Traditional Gypsy Culture was held on Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th September 2007

at the

Weald & Downland Open Air Museum

Town Lane, Singleton, Chichester, Sussex PO18 OEU

Where do we start? What a wonderful weekend we all enjoyed at the Weald and Downland Museum, which gave us all the feeling of being part of one big family! Music, dance, demonstrations, displays, food and crafts celebrating the traditional Romany way of life, enthralled both the public and the Gypsy community alike.

The event offered visitors the opportunity to learn more about the often-misunderstood Gypsy lifestyle, and also a chance to join in. This included singing along with an array of highly talented singers and musicians, horse and cart rides and a chance to enjoy traditional Gypsy fare. There were demonstrations of many typical Romany crafts including peg-making, flower-making, leadwork, sign-writing, wood carving and wagon repair, together with many beautiful examples of Gypsy wagons and transport through the ages. Stalls sold Gypsy wares and many of the old crafts were displayed and admired by the hundreds of people who came.

Old friends met up and many new friendships were forged. For those of us who slept on site, evenings were spent round the fireside where musicians and singers such as Charlie Smith, Sarah the Singing Gypsy, The Orchard Family and Bob Lovell (who was visiting from New Zealand) gave impromptu performances. The weather was glorious, as was the countryside around us - and we all sat singing well into the night.

Thanks must go to Greg Yates and his team for organising such a big event so brilliantly! Everything seemed to go like clockwork and despite the huge effort that must have gone into it, it retained a homely, extremely friendly and welcoming atmosphere. We all can't wait now for next year! 

The response to Romany Road was wonderful and has filled us with enthusiasm and hope for the future. Many people promised to send new material for our journals and for the website, so we look forward to that.

Everyone took photos, if you are one of those people, we would welcome any contributions you are kind enough to share. Once they are sent in, we will display some on the site and in the next journal for those of you who weren't able to attend. Chris Barltrop spent a great deal of time interviewing, videoing and photographing as many aspects of the weekend as possible, and in due course we hope to make DVDs available for sale.

So a really big thank you from us to everyone who contributed to a lovely weekend.  Singers who sang their hearts out, caterers who provided excellent food, children who raced the most beautiful Gypsy ponies, a beautiful little girl (name unknown) who mesmerised us as she danced along with some wonderful continental Gypsy musicians - you all made us proud!!

Go to "WEALD AND DOWN" on red menu tabs to see more photos