Achievements

Advising and consultancy, for the last TAA
(Assessing the countywide accommodation needs of the community in order to progress forward, the much needed increase in the number of pitches available)

Travelling Lives Project in partnership with TMG
Working with the community, to promote life long learning and putting in place creative photography skills, as well as giving the community chance to work with professional artists, to stage an exhibition. The work was developed by LGLG in conjunction with the New Art Exchange and T.M.G Notts.

The project was aimed at capturing a snap shot in time of Travelling life in the new millennium as seen through the communities own eyes.

As well as an exhibition, LGLG produced a valuable culturally specific training aid and historical record in its own right. The Pastures New DVD which was produced in partnership with MBVP was released to commemorate the first ever GRTH Month lunch.

Supporting People
LGLG worked with DGLG and LCC to pilot an 18month project to supply an accommodation based floating support service for community members right across the WLDC and Lincoln City  areas, whether families were un-sited, on private sites, in housing or on L/A pitches. This project was very successful and the feedback from families was very positive. The un-sited and housed Travellers had the greatest areas of need as well as those families on private sites endeavouring to get planning permission. Families on L/A site arguably had lower support needs as they already had a stable base and received some ongoing support from site wardens and teaching staff etc. LGLG achieved their QAF grade B.

Cultural Days
LGLG believe it is important to break down myths and barriers of distrust which are the breeding ground of racism and discrimination. In order to achieve this aim and to improve community cohesion by bringing together members of both the Travelling and settled communities we have staged several culture days. These have been very well supported and attended and staged in conjunction with LCC’s Library dept.

They have been also be a valuable showcase of the rich and varied culture which Gypsies bring to British society and to highlight the contribution they make to the country at large. We also took part in an open day when the Mayor of Lincoln visited the Washingborough Site to open the new Biddy Rooney Centre. Refreshments were provided and a display of Irish dancing was performed. 

Prison Support
LGLG has worked with prisons, staff and prisoners to provide cultural, emotional and practical support and find improved improved methods and share good practice.

Cookery Project
This was done in conjunction with Gainsborough College, LGLG and Gainsborough Travellers Initiative. Ladies from within the area were taught basic home cookery skills as well as nutritional advice and suggestions for family budgeting and housekeeping. As well as receiving cookery certificates families also enjoyed the finished efforts which were all taken home.

Identifying Future Sites
We have worked with SKDC and NLCC to look at various pieces of land and access their suitability for developing new sites for the future.

I Know When It’s Raining
Members of LGLG and DGLG worked with CSIP and the University of Central Lancashire on this Community Engagement Project which focused on the Emotional
well-being needs of Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers. We examined the effects of living in bricks and mortar on a community who are traditionally nomadic. The findings were presented in the ‘I know when it’s raining’ report

Site Bid
LGLG were approached by residents on our local site as they had many health and safety concerns about the place where they were living. We decided rather than approach the landlords with an array of individual complaints, it would be best to involve all the residents in working together to take an interest in helping to improve their living conditions. The residents did a survey to highlight their main concerns and the priority that they placed on each of the issues. Because of reduced literacy skills residents needed help to collate the results of the survey into a presentable form. Volunteers helped with this and the result was the Summers Gangs Site Survey.

LGLG assisted in forming a residents group who could liaise with the interagency forum which was hosted at the LGLG office at Waterfront. We did a presentation to the Generic Equalities Steering Committee and subsequently the Summer Gangs Action Group was formed and facilitated by WLDC. The refurbishment bid was finally submitted and the Summer Gangs Site Survey was used as a supporting document. Although it took a while it was all worth it in the end and the refurbishment bid was successful. The landlords received over £1.25 million pounds to bring the site up to a reasonable standard. All the tenants that had taken part in the survey were delighted by the outcome. We have expressed the view however, that unless a robust management system is put into place by the landlords then the maximum benefit of the grant will not be realised. Improved management needs to be done in conjunction with and in partnership with the residents via the residents group.

UK YP
LGLG has a member representing the County in the Youth Parliament. This means that the needs and aspirations of the community’s young people are brought to the attention of decision makers and policy makers.

East Midlands Gypsy and Traveller Police Youth Forum
We hosted the first meeting of the above and also supplied a chairperson and a vice chairperson. It is important that the police recognise the needs of the community and that these needs are met in a respectful and equal fashion. There will also be occasions when the community need to call on the services of the police when they are either victims of crime or when there is a family crisis. Improved communication, trust and understanding, mean that both parties can work together for mutual benefit to create a safer community for everybody.

King of the Gypsies
This piece of work was done in partnership with Matt Callum of These Colours Theatre Group. It is an examination through the medium of drama and the arts, of the roots of racism that the community experience. It was first performed live at the Edinburgh Festival in 2009 and since then has been, and still is very successfully on tour nationally. It takes the viewer through 1,000 years of Gypsy History. A rich story of a people continuously on the move, and often fleeing persecution. It embraces their roots in India, their journey across Europe, the holocaust which exterminated 80% or the world wide population, being sold into slavery, the brutal forced evictions of the 1960’s through to the Nimby protestors of today who still protest loudly about any proposal for a site within their area at the same time as they complain about unsited encampments. The text is by Pauline  Lynch. For details of performances near you contact www.thesecolours.com

All Party Parliamentary Group
As members of this group we are able to work with representatives of other groups to plan for legislative and policy change alongside MP’s and Ministers at the Westminster.

Gypsy and Traveller History in the UK. An education pack for schools and youth groups.

This piece of work was done to support the educational materials produced and supplied by the specialist publisher of Gypsy material, Robert Dawson. As you can see many of our working lunches took place outside!

Save the Children Project
LGLG worked with Save the Children to produce a film to be shown at the annual conference. Following on from our last film ‘Early Years’ with Tom Baker, it was felt that a more recent and up to date item about pre school education would inform both parents and service providers about the benefits to children of learning through play etc and entry into pre school.