Crowds brave rain at Gypsy and Traveller celebration in Mile End Park

By Mike Doherty

Above: Gypsies, Travellers and friends celebrate Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month in Mile End

Despite the rainy weather, over 150 people attended Mile End Park on Saturday 22nd June to celebrate the first ever Gypsy and Traveller History Month fun day celebration at Mile End Park in Tower Hamlets, East London.

 Gypsies and Irish Travellers from London and beyond mixed with local people to enjoy a day of music, talent and crafts, organised by Gypsy/Traveller campaign organisation, the Irish Traveller Movement in Britain.

The event kicked off with a speech by Father Dan, parish priest for Dale Farm in Basildon, followed with music from Margaret Doran and traditional Irish music from Paddy Egan and friends and finished with a talent contest and a football game.

Above: Mosey O'Leary makes a horseshoe as Gypsy blacksmith and former Travellers' Times editor, Jake Bowers, looks on

A big craft attraction was Jake Bowers and his mobile blacksmith forge. Not content to show and tell when demonstrating this ancient craft, Mr Bowers soon had people making their own metal artefacts, with the prize for the most stylish would-be blacksmith going to Baba O’Leary, who spurned the offer of safety goggles, preferring to keep her designer shades on as she beat a red-hot length of steel into a serviceable fire poker.

"Blacksmithing has been the craft at the centre of Romany Gypsy and Irish Traveller identity since the cultures first emerged,” says Mr Bowers. “But what Gypsies and Travellers also have in common is that far too many of us have now lost the art of making metal bend to our will.  For me if Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month is about anything, it is about rediscovering that shared history and breathing new life into our cultures.”

“Despite the weather, we all had a lovely day today,” said Yvonne MacNamara, CEO of the Irish Traveller Movement in Britain. “We would like to thank Tower Hamlets Council for their loan of this lovely part of Mile End Park. It’s heart-warming to see all the different communities mixing and getting on. We hope to do the same again next year and, hopefully, even more people will come to join with us and get a taste of Gypsy and Traveller culture and heritage.”