London This Week: Gypsies
16mm film Black & White Sound c.1975 8:03
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Summary: A 'This Week' episode about gypsy camps in Hillingdon, with an interview with a council member.
Title number: 390
LSA ID: LSA/506
Description: Some film apparently shot by a cameraman employed by a cameraman employed by the London Borough of Hillingdon and offered to the Minister of Housing opens this item from BBC's This Week current affairs programme. The film is said to record debris and rubbish left behind by 'gypsy families' who 'descended on the borough last year'. A representative of the borough of Hillingdon is interviewed outside the town hall speaking about the nuisance caused by the travelling people to ratepayers and council staff. Some travelling families and their vehicles are filmed parked up on a lane beside a main road. A male traveller talks about being pushed around by the authorities and the difficulties that they face. The item records caravans and people at Hillingdon's temporary site for 50 people and refers to the council's resettlement plan to place families in permanent homes and get children into schools. A site in Redbridge is filmed that has washhouses, mains water and lavatories laid on. Its plans for a gypsy school are discussed and some children shown playing an educational game with a woman. The role of the Gypsy council and the Caravan Act are also spoken about a gypsy speaker. The item ends on a site at Newhome where gypsy families face imminent eviction.
Keywords: Gypsies; Nomadism; Travellers
Locations: United Kingdom; England; London; Hillingdon; Redbridge
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