Today I Am Grateful For.....

When we first had problems in the village the police did nothing. Then the village got a permanent banning order and the police still did nothing. They said they didn't have the manpower, which was true, but that wasn't an acceptable answer. So the Parish council sent the police a draft summons for not carrying out their duty (don't know whether it would have worked) and they called in police from nearby areas and shifted them quickly. Nowadays they move them on from the village green before they even get settled. That seems to work quite well because they've hardly detached the vans from their vehicles before the police arrive and they tend to give very little resistance.

 

I think it's a small(ish) percentage but, as with lots of things, the bad ones get a bad name for all.

 

Well, the folk I have dealt with over the years were highly intelligent, well organised, well versed in the Common Law, how long it takes to get an injunction, how far they would have to travel from the first site to another without breaching the injunction. They believe that it's us permanently based persons who are perhaps "thicker" and weaker in that we have to obey our laws and, in the main, do so. So they know how to use our own laws and standards of Right and Wrong against us. Having said that I have had, on occasion, the word of a "Traveller" Leader in a matter and they have always kept it.

 

I think that the reason the police were quick off the mark when pushed by the Parish Council is that the draft summons was drawn up by The Lord of the Manor (yes, we still have one here) and he had told the Council that he would fund any legal costs. He still owns a lot of the land in and around the village and is very generous. He also owns a lot of the village green but it's run by the Council.

 

Our Lord of the Manor is always willing to give permission for things to happen on the village green - village fete, funfairs, celebrations etc. (subject to planning permission).

In the 70's he gave land to the village hall for a car park, has given land to the village for a small car park and has just given land alongside the church on the green (specified that it can be used for parents bringing their kids to school) for more parking. As with most places, parking is becoming a problem

 

Our Lord of the Manor is from a local family - as have been all the different 'Lords' dating back a thousand years to the time of Edward the Confessor.

He still owns the village green and a lot of the area around it (as well as his own estate) and still official has four 'Commoners' in houses in the village. These border the green and they are the only ones that still have certain rights to the green, including being 'allowed to graze swine on the green'.

Our Village Fete (officially called village fair) moved here in 1660 (from a village, that used to be the main village, three miles away). It's visited by thousands of people and is great fun.