Becoming involved

On reflection, life takes many strange turns, some good, some adventurous, some challenging and some sadly draped in misfortune. In my career journey I was fortunate enough to be blessed with good fortune, adventure and creative challenge.

Having been awarded in 1969 a postgraduate research scholarship by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), I had to come up with an idea of what I wanted to research. Having previously trained as an art teacher in Wales, I had become very interested in the work of Augustus John and his lifelong fascination with the Romany way of life. Some time later, when I was reading the Guardian newspaper in the senior common room at Hull University, I happened to see a small news item about the SSRC wanting more research done on minorities, including ‘gypsies’. And so that memory surfaced from my subconscious and my decision was firmly made there and then to research this group of people, about whom I knew virtually nothing.

A further strange coincidence happened to me at roughly the same time. Having qualifications in youth work, I secured some part-time youth work to help keep my bank overdraft in check. The work was in a purpose-built youth wing at a large secondary school on a social housing estate between the outskirts of Hull and Cottingham village. Frequently, while cycling from Cottingham to the youth centre, I used to pass the intriguing scene of a group of Gypsies parked on the grassy verges of rural Middledyke Lane, with all their beautiful bow-topped wagons, horses, dogs and other livestock, together with nearby hedgerows bestrewn with carefully placed washing like brightly coloured patchwork quilts. Families with seemingly many children were sitting around inviting fires. I remember one evening when I returned home, the families had all vanished into thin air and the only trace was the smallest of smoking fire embers surrounded by a ring of grey stones. So, as a keen social anthropologist I had found my community literally on my doorstep and with whom I would work for the following three years.

My research started with the typical ‘literature review’, together with press searches for relevant material.