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My big fat gypsy wedding

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I watched it and OMG those dresses were awful - the poor girls but they wanted them like that and they were so so young could not walk up the isle beside the father in the dress - too wide!= engaged at 14 and married about 16/17 and the clothes the youngsters wore were dreadful - but give them all their due their morals were impeccable and they are not allowed out or to be alone with their boyfriends and no way to sleep with them before marriage. They dont drink either and no drugs - could give some of our culture a lesson there.

I thought they were noisy and brash at the wedding but they were ok really.

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I thought it was a really interesting programme and enjoyed watching it. Those dresses were huuuuuuuge! Reminded me of the toilet roll cover dolls :D How many other girls get the dress of their dreams especially made for them?! Not my taste but pretty spectacular! 8)

 

I felt that the last girl wasn't happy and I hope everything works out for her.

 

Well worth a watch! 8)

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I watched about 5 mins before we lost the Sky connection because of all the snow :(

 

Will find it online and have a watch as it looked really interesting

 

One of my colleagues tells me there was a dress that was 27 stone - thats several stone heavier than even me!!!! makes me feel like Kate Moss :lol:

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I wondered about the last girl too, and wondered if where she had worked with 'country people' (non-travellers), she was a bit torn about her traditional self and her non-traveller self. :?

 

I really like their sense of community and morality. The fact it's a big community, where they have an open door at their weddings to ALL travellers - I thought that was old-fashioned and lovely. And that they have a sense of duty to each other - the boys will have to look after their wives, and they understand their mutual responsibilities to each other in their relationships.

 

I LOVED those dresses - that they fulfilled such dreams and they were so proud of them. I'd never want to wear one that big or garish, but total kudos that they get their dream day. :D

 

I was a bit :anxious: about the whole not marrying 'country' people. It's a fine line between preserving tradition and being a bit racist.

 

And I wasn't so keen on the brashness, but it is no different from the brashness found in a lot of non-traveller blue collar/working class people.

 

Near to where I live there is a traveller site. They are fairground folk, and the site has actually been there since the time of King John. I think it's funny that some of the non-travellers round here see them as scum and look down on them. The travellers have had dibs on staying on that land for centuries, they work (hard, in all weathers!), and they have the same attitudes towards relationships and drink and drugs that the people in the programme outlined - positive morals which the judgemental non-travellers round here don't have. The people who aren't travellers seem to have more of the negative attitudes they erroneously accuse travellers of having. Funny old world...

 

This is an interesting site for a bit more on travellers and gypsies:

http://www.applebyfair.org/about_gypsy_travellers.html

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I watched about 5 mins before we lost the Sky connection because of all the snow :(

 

Will find it online and have a watch as it looked really interesting

 

One of my colleagues tells me there was a dress that was 27 stone - thats several stone heavier than even me!!!! makes me feel like Kate Moss :lol:

 

The dressmaker says some of them are so heavy they scar the hips of the wearer for life. Scars they endure with pride! :shock:

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I really like their sense of community and morality. The fact it's a big community, where they have an open door at their weddings to ALL travellers - I thought that was old-fashioned and lovely. And that they have a sense of duty to each other - the boys will have to look after their wives, and they understand their mutual responsibilities to each other in their relationships.

 

 

So did I. :)

 

I really felt for them when the venues kept cancelling the receptions, they seemed like decent folk.

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I think the traditional Gypsy and travellers communities are not bad its the travellers that sit on the fringes of that world that get my goat and are the ones that cause the problems

 

There are a lot of gypsy horse in a field near me that are so well cared for its lovely to see but neighbours often comment about 'those poor horses' without actually taking the trouble to look with their eyes!

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There are a lot of gypsy horse in a field near me that are so well cared for its lovely to see but neighbours often comment about 'those poor horses' without actually taking the trouble to look with their eyes!

 

We have that locally in the summer. Some visit with horses and tether them on patches of beautiful lush grass and all that people see is that they are tethered. The horses are in lovely condition and perfectly happy but people do nothing but complain. They say nothing about horses stuck in poorly lit dusty old stables though. :roll:

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And I wasn't so keen on the brashness, but it is no different from the brashness found in a lot of non-traveller blue collar/working class people.

 

 

Not sure what you mean by that but I'm very working class and not at all brash, either in taste or attitude, and don't know anyone who is. :?:?:?

 

Interesting programme though, the dresses were hideous in a sweet, naive way and the travellers came across very well. I'd like to know where they get their money from though. We didn't find out what their trades were either, but they were well kitted out with new cars :?

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Loved the programme, elements of it were cringeworthy in their tackiness, but others like the moral element were eye-opening and rather touching.

 

I do have mixed feelings about the travelling community though and I agree it is the ones on the fringes that give the whole community a bad name. Sadly I don't concur about their treatment of horses, some of the treatment at Appleby horse fair is atrocious. A friend of mine was there a couple of years back when a horse was drowned by some young lads. Apparently it is 'tradition' for the young lads to compete to see who is the most 'manly' by taking their horse in the river and trying to force its head temporarily down under the water.

 

I used to work on derelict land reclamation in Walsall 20 years ago and the travellers used to illegally tether and graze their horses on public open space (often newly planted and at great cost to the taxpayer) These animals were left for days with no water and no shelter or ability to move to shade in the hottest of summers. We used to have to leave notices to remove on their tethering ropes as you could never find out who they belonged to. They would then mysteriously disappear over night and appear in a different part of the borough on another newly reclaimed and planted area. Drove us potty!

 

If councils provided decent sites for them, that were well planned with decent infrastructure that they paid rent to come on to, there would be a lot fewer problems and less discrimination from the rest of the population.

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There are a lot of gypsy horse in a field near me that are so well cared for its lovely to see but neighbours often comment about 'those poor horses' without actually taking the trouble to look with their eyes!

There was a facebook group about 2 cruel horses that need to RSCPA to look at them etc near here, people went and took photos of how cruelly kept they were, then of their owner visiting the field and they were in great condition!

I've seen them and they seem pretty friendly too, just people sometimes jump in without really knowing what to look for.

 

Will try + catch the programme online :D

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Sadly I don't concur about their treatment of horses, some of the treatment at Appleby horse fair is atrocious. .

 

I didnt indicate that they all looked after their horse just that people seem to tar them all with the same brush, there are good and bad in any community after all

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And I wasn't so keen on the brashness, but it is no different from the brashness found in a lot of non-traveller blue collar/working class people.

 

 

Not sure what you mean by that but I'm very working class and not at all brash, either in taste or attitude, and don't know anyone who is. :?:?:?

 

Interesting programme though, the dresses were hideous in a sweet, naive way and the travellers came across very well. I'd like to know where they get their money from though. We didn't find out what their trades were either, but they were well kitted out with new cars :?

 

There is an element of my local community who are quite loud, blunt and in your face, wear clothes which make Toast and Joules shoppers raise an eyebrow and tell you exactly what they think in a way which can be intimidating if you don't know them very well. If you do know them a little better and know what they stand for, you (meaning me) maybe judge them in a different light.

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There are a lot a travellers very close to where I live. Their houses are amazing & very well cared for. We also have a pemanent travellers camp & they keep themselves to themselves. There are a few troublesome ones too.

The travellers are very flamboyant aren't they in their dress style? They seem to get away with wearing things that little bit over the top, very flouncy, glitzy & sometimes a bit risque. They are all dripping in gold & are loaded with wads of cash. Their hair is usually very wow too, either naturally dark & shiny or like models - with extensions etc. Some of them look stunning, others look false.

Their skin is very unusual - like a yellowy tanned look :? - others do top it up with a bit of St. Tropez. :wink:

Most round us are in the building / window trade & do like to take advantage of people wanting these sort of jobs done. They will rip people off. They are not so nice. :(

Their language is brash & rather foul. They are very very loud. There must be some nice ones, but I've yet to meet any that truly are.

I'm not so convinced about their morals. Maybe the girls save themselves until after marriage, but round our way believe me - the lads try it on with any girl, not from ' their sort'. I once went out with a traveller when I was 15. I didn't discover he was a traveller until about 9 years ago. :oops:

My hubby has the skin, hair & features of a traveller & his mum was adopted. We often call him a certain name! :whistle: He could well be of Travellers blood - I don't know.

 

Travellers big occassions are made very special. Weddings, Confirmations & Funerals are all big events for the Travellers & the outfits for all are very shocking. Even funerals are seen as a celebration event. I wish I knew more about their meanings & traditions.

 

Emma.x

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Just seen the show & along with my daughters,thought it was both enlightening & fascinating.

 

I spent a great deal of time explaining to them both that both our community & theirs 9travellers) has its bad elements...some of which I have had problems with in my working life in retail, but that we are just as likely to see the bad in them,as them in us.

 

The clothes were a revelation. so mush fabric covering such a small area!

And those neon bridesmaids dresses :shock:

Not to my taste,but what the heck - live & let live :P

 

I admired their Morales too,although I thought that poor Joan,the last bride, was marrying to conform rather than for love :?

How sad that at 22 she felt that she was too old.

 

All in all a totally enthralling show :D

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I haven't seen it but hope to :D A friend of my ES is half traveller, his Father married a non traveller, and he lost a lot of his friends and community because of it :( ES's friend is a star, such a lovely polite young man who stays over regularly :D

 

The flip side is we have a number of ex-travellers pupils at work, one poor mite is usually dripping with head lice to the point they are crawling around in their hair and actually falling out onto the table. The poor things are filthy and have very poor personal hygiene, and of course the other pupils refuse to sit near to them or make horrible comments :( Senior staff taking them home and actually taking treatment for the whole family doesn't make any difference :evil:

 

When I was a community midwife I had to visit a traveller camp to see a new born, the site wasn't the best, but the baby and mum were very well looked after, and the van was lovely and clean, but they were so suspicious of me coming to 'check up' on them :(

 

Karen x

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