Story Café: Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month Scotland

Pauline shares what we’ve been reading and chatting about at Story Cafe this month…

This Story Cafe was first planned for June 2020 so it’s only three years late!

After welcoming everyone, especially anyone here for the first time, Wendy explained that our readings today would be celebrating and raising awareness of Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month. Started in Scotland in 2016, this month recognizes the history and celebrates the cultures, traditions and contributions of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in Scotland and across the UK.

The Scottish Gypsy/Traveller community is now recognised by the Scottish Government as an ethnic group in its own right, and the Equality Act of 2010 provides a framework which protects Gypsy/Travellers from discrimination.  Today that identity can take several forms but all share in a strong common cultural identity, which continues to thrive through traditional crafts and fairs, and storytelling and music.

Betsy Whyte (1919-1988), a well-known story-teller and singer, published her childhood memoir of a traditional Gypsy Traveller family moving round Scotland, The Yellow on the Broom in 1979. Wendy read two extracts, how a violent storm forced them to abandon their tent and shelter in a ditch, and how welcoming others and sharing the little they had, was an important aspect of their culture.

Jess Smith (b. 1948), a generation later than Betsy, is a well-known story-teller and writer and her childhood home was an old single-decker Bedford bus.  I read from her memoir, Jessie’s Journey, a description of her mother’s fortune-telling and in her own words, how she went ‘midden raking’ to earn a little money.  I then read her beautiful poem Scotia’s Bairn.

I also read a short piece, The Berries by Angela Logan from Scotland’s Stories, published by the Scottish Book Trust to celebrate Book Week Scotland in 2022.  

The chat which followed the readings was wide ranging, including how the changes in agriculture impacted on the traditional Gypsy Traveller economy and the disappearance from the Scottish countryside of their tents and the “greens” where they had gathered to take part in berry picking, tattie howking and other seasonal farming jobs.  Now many people are settled in one place while other people travel at specific times of the year, but they continue to share a thriving cultural identity.  

We also branched out into memories of some of our mothers reading tea leaves and the many superstitions which circulated in that generation.

We finished with contemporary poetry by Maggie McPhee – ‘Our history is all around’ and ‘Magic in the words’. Two lines of poetry struck me as I read them “There is sorcery in the written word, so powerful that it brings tears to the eyes”. That is certainly true of the writing of Betsy, Jessie and Maggie.

Maggie’s book of poetry Come take a walk with me is available from GWL as are the books of Betsy Whyte and Jess Smith. You can also read some of Maggie’s poetry  and hear an interview with her on the Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month website. Reading them can help people who aren’t from Gypsy Traveller heritage to understand and appreciate a part of Scottish society which has often been misunderstood and stigmatised, but is now rightfully recognised and celebrated as an integral part of Scottish life past and present.

It’s hard to believe that I have been writing these blogs for a year – it has been great fun and thanks to Wendy I have been able to express my enjoyment both of the books we read and the pleasure of sharing stories and memories with the women who make Story Cafe so special. So join us at the next Story Cafe at 1pm on 27th July and experience the magic with us.   

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