A Gypsy’s view of Life in the Forest

Article by Anthony Pasmore in ‘New Forest Notes’, New Milton Advertiser and Times, 05 April 2026

A Gypsy’s view of life in the Forest

Some time ago I received a request for permission to include, in a forthcoming publication, an extract from one of my late father’s books. The subject of the extract was the great freeze of 1962-3. I was happy to agree and thought no more about the matter.

Last month I received a copy of the new book – Living in a Kenner (house): My New Forest Romani Gypsy Family by Heather Cooper. If this was perhaps a book I would not have gone out of my way to buy, it was certainly a welcome change from the noxious stream of local authority reports and consultations from which I usually suffer. This was a book that I could actually read. It will be available from the New Forest Heritage Centre from 11th April.

I have to say straight away that I was brought up at a time when the Forest community lived in a state of constant cold war with the local Gypsy camps. Keepers, agisters and police were always trying to limit the activities of those who lived in the half dozen or so compounds. Landowners and residents nearby were in a perpetual state of fear of expected depredations on their property, real or imagined. Ms Cooper’s book therefore gives a rare opportunity to reflect on those days from the opposite side of the social fence which divided the Forest. Her story is derived largely from information supplied by her parents, who were raised in the Shave Green camp, although she herself was born after the compounds were closed down.

The book is a mixture of verse and stories covering life in the camps in the first half of the 20th century and then following her own family and others as they settled into, or struggled with, more conventional life after the 1960s. I am no judge of poetry, so I turned at once to the remaining text.

The Shave Green camp, as it was called, was in fact located in old sand pits on Brockishill, just west of the A337 half way between Lyndhurst to Cadnam. Why it should have been so named is unclear as Shave Green itself is actually nearly a mile further north.

Ms Cooper gives a vivid picture of life in the camp with all its difficulties and hardships, but also a great sense of community and mutual help amongst the residents. There was, for example, no water supply and water had to be collected from a tap a mile away. It follows, of course, that there was no modern sanitation. Accommodation was in flimsy huts made out of poles and fabric or, more luxuriously, in old vehicles. Cooking was in improvised stoves made out of old metal drums and the author tells us that remarkably good meals were produced.

The report of the New Forest Committee of 1947 describes the camps as then hardly reaching the standard of the Stone Age and that is not inconsistent with Ms Cooper’s account.

In those early post-war days, I lived very close to the Shave Green camp and, no doubt like most of the local children, I was warned to keep well away from Brockishill – especially when on my pony. I think this warning had more to do with the quantities of broken glass and sharp metal objects lying about than any direct threat to my safety. I followed the instruction to the letter and not until the camp had closed down did I see these dangers for myself.

Even as late as my early interest in Forest matters, complaints about Shave Green and the other camps came regularly before the Verderers. In 1951, Mr OT Price, a noted hunting gentleman, complained to the court of wire, six feet above the ground, strung between trees in the camp and potentially lethal to horsemen. Mr Terrance Despard of Bartley Manor was a regular complainant about alleged violations of his property by camp residents.

Ms Cooper sees these conflicts through entirely different eyes and that makes her writing unusual and historically valuable. Perhaps her view of Romani life is a little over-rosy in places, just as the recorded opinions of local people may be an exaggeration of the evils of the camp, but this was all a long time ago. Still, she does not shy away from noting some of the more bizarre aspects of camp and post-camp life. It was always alleged that when some residents of the Forest camps were re-housed in nearby villages, they used their new baths for storing coal. I thought this was probably a myth, and certainly the author does not mention it. She does, on the other hand, record the activities on one re-housed woman who was discovered using her WC for washing clothes in and extolling the virtues of this sanitary fitting as a valuable washing machine. Perhaps any of us might have done the same after half a lifetime trudging a mile each day for a meagre water supply.

To buy the book click on the book cover

Revealing Alf Witcher’s Chindit war story

Page from the Summer 2026 Chindit Society newsletter:

New Chindit-Related Books

In June 2025, an enquiry on the WW2Talk forum asked for information about Gunner 11273725 Alfred Witcher who had served with 69 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment in India. Amongst those who replied was the Society’s own historian, Steve Fogden, who was able, alongside other forum members to work out Alfred’s wartime and indeed Chindit service.

Alfred had been posted to 69 LAA in November 1943 after his arrival in India and was then assigned on the 10th February 1944 to X Troop, with the task of manning a battery of the 40mm BOFOR Anti-Aircraft guns situated at each of the four Chindit strongholds during Operation Thursday.

As are the vagaries of war, Alfred was suddenly re-posted to Z Troop and was due to fly into Burma (Aberdeen stronghold) aboard Dakota FL-540 on the 11th April, but in the end did not take this flight.

Fate had certainly intervened that day, as Dakota FL-540 crashed into the hills surrounding the Aberdeen stronghold, killing all but six of the 26 passengers and RAF crew aboard. This tragic story can be read in full within the Autumn 2025 edition of the Chindit Column.

After his great fortune on 11th April, Alfred Witcher (photographed below) continued his active service in India and Burma with 69 LAA until June 1945, when he was posted to the 85th Medium Regiment Royal Artillery, with whom he served up until his repatriation to the United Kingdom in May 1946.

The original search for information about Alfred’s WW2 pathway was instigated by book publisher, Jenny Knowles and wartime researcher, Shane McCormack on behalf of Alfred’s daughter, Heather Cooper, who was in the process of writing a book entitled Living in a Kenner, about her father’s and the Romani Gypsy community’s longtime association with the New Forest.

The book was launched at an event held at the New Forest Heritage Centre in Lyndhurst on the 11th April this year, exactly 82 years after Alfred’s fateful escape from boarding Dakota FL-540.

Author, Heather Cooper recalled:

‘My Dad grew up on Shave Green [compound] in the New Forest and went to war for over three years, serving in India and Burma.

After the war, Dad returned to Shave Green and built a new life together with my Mum, Harriet.

A few years later, the authorities started to move everyone out of the compounds. Mum and Dad, along with my older brothers and sister, were moved to a Nissen hut on Setley Plain, and then later to a house (a kenner) where I was born.

I’ve lived in caravans, a mobile home and a house with my husband, Burt.

We like to keep the traditional Romani ways alive and share them with others. This book is one way of doing that and I hope people will enjoy reading it and learning about our history.’

To buy the book click on: Living in a Kenner: My New Forest Romani Gypsy Family

‘Romany Truths’ – “Is there Hope?”

Romany Truths:

Lamb, Pearce, Scott and Wells families

of Thorney Hill (Hampshire), Holbury, nr Fawley, and Dibden (Hampshire)

by

Patricia Mary Wilson

Article by Ellen Stuart in ‘Romany Routes’ Vol 17, no. 6, March 2026

‘Patricia Wilson has created something unique in this slim volume. It comprises personal memoir; commentary on the appalling treatment of the Romany people of the New Forest in Hampshire; original poetry and beautiful artwork. Remember, this is not an anthology of work from several different writers and artists. Each distinct element demonstrates a different skill from one talented individual.

Patricia (Trish) Wilson

In Chapters 1 to 4, Patricia’s storytelling skills are most evident. Full of detail and anecdotes, the writing is lively, natural and personal. It paints a vivid picture of her family from the point of view of a young daughter and granddaughter, the portraits as clear as the family photographs. These are happy childhood memories, and the Romany village and camp at Thorney Hill is described fondly as the place Patricia went on holiday to visit her grandparents.

The tone changes completely from page 50 when Patricia describes the Romany compounds with her adult voice and understanding. Her anger at the way the community was treated is evident. So too is her pride in her family and all the Romany people who ‘prevailed’ under very difficult conditions.

These different voices are also heard in Patricia’s poems, some focusing on her own memories and experiences, others tackling broader and darker themes such as racism and the Gypsy Holocaust. The poem, ‘Nevi Wesh Romany’, opens with a beautiful image of the ‘Laughter and conversation’ of the New Forest Romany people becoming absorbed into the physical geography of the Forest itself, preserved in this way.

But fears are expressed that their way of life, their customs and language will be lost.

The last line is a question: ‘But is there hope?’. By recording and sharing the history of her own people in Romany Truths, Patricia Wilson has answered that question with a resounding ‘Yes’.’

To buy the book: click on Romany Truths

How I Write by Anthony Ridgway

‘How I Write’ – click here to watch the video

Anthony Ridgway made this video to demonstrate how he writes his children’s books Wizzy the Animal Whisperer and Wizzy and the Seaside Adventure.

Because Anthony has cerebral palsy and is partially sighted he writes using a computer programme that enables him to find the keys on a large keyboard with the computer speaking out each letter, number and space when he presses the relevant key.

Using Dolphin Guide on his PC, Anthony writes for an hour or two each day. It is a laborious process … as Anthony says, “Because I only write with one finger, it takes me about a year to write a book.”

Although the process of writing is laborious, Anthony brings adventure and a witty freshness to his stories that will have you laughing out loud.

Books by Anthony Ridgway

Wizzy the Animal Whisperer audiobook CD

Alan Langford – Inspired by the New Forest

Alan Langford, New Forest equestrian artist, features in the Friends of the New Forest Association’s FOREST MATTERS Autumn/Winter 2023 publication.

Inspired by the New Forest

‘Alan Langford is a freelance artist and illustrator who specialises in equestrian subject matter.
As a native of the New Forest, he is familiar with its extensive landscapes of open heath and ancient woodland that are frequently depicted in his paintings.
A love of horses and riding, and the struggle to depict action in a convincing, predominantly aesthetic way, is the foremost objective in his paintings.
Alan was born in Hampshire, but went to Australia when his family decided to emigrate there under the popular immigration scheme after the Second World War.
They returned to England after three years and in much depleted circumstances lived in a caravan at Drapers Copse, Dibden, on the edge of the New Forest.
Alan writes, ‘It was there that I met my first Romani gypsies. They were a tough lot, and their toughness became most apparent during the winter of 1962-63. Everyone on that caravan camp had a hard time that winter.’ [extract from Alan’s book, WELGORA published by LittleKnollPress.com]
His close contact with the local Romani community, whose relationship with the Forest can be traced back for Centuries, has left an empathetic influence on his art. Images of the Romani Welgoras (horse fairs) and Atchin Tans (temporary camps) often feature in his paintings.
After a footloose career wandering from one unskilled job or another in Australia and the UK he finally embarked on a serious course of part-time study at Southampton College of Art. He qualified to study as a full-time student on the college’s Foundation Course, but had to let this opportunity pass because his absence from the UK while wandering in Australia exempted him from any grant entitlement.
He finally found work as a full time illustrator and since then has illustrated comics, encyclopaedias, history books and classical novels.’

Alan Langford paints at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, Bournemouth

Alan starts his painting at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum.

Equestrian artist, Alan Langford, demonstrated painting at the ‘Animals in Art and Nature’ evening at Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, Bournemouth.

In just over two hours Alan completed a watercolour of gypsy horses, while finding plenty of time to talk to visitors as well.

The evening celebrated the summer 2023 exhibition ‘In Her Own Voice’ which brought together a stunning selection of works by the famous equestrian painter, Lucy Kemp-Welch, at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum.

Poster by Lucy Kemp-Welch depicting Robert Baden-Powell’s horse ‘Black Prince’.

If you think you’ve never heard of Lucy Kemp-Welch, think again … she illustrated the first edition of Anna Sewell’s classic book ‘Black Beauty’, using Baden-Powell’s horse Black Prince as the model for Black Beauty.

Alan Langford was gripped by the same desire as Lucy Kemp-Welch to capture in paint the power and movement of horses, and their special relationship with people.

Alan writes in his book ‘WELGORA’ …

Illustration from Alan’s book ‘WELGORA’.

‘In the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth, hangs Lucy Kemp-Welch’s eight foot long canvas, entitled The Gypsy Horse Drovers, which she painted when she was still an art student under the tutorage of Herbert Von Herkomer RA. The idea for the painting occurred to her when she saw the approach of a number of heavy-hoofed cobs, driven by tough-looking Romani riders along a muddy country lane, under a grey wintry sky.
Rushing from her lodgings with palette and brushes in hand, and the lid of her paint box to serve as a paint board, she executed a swift, skilful composition as this irregular, rampant procession proceeded before her.
Following this exciting encounter and full of the energetic enthusiasm that compels artists when embarking on a project that interests them deeply, she ordered an eight foot long, stretched canvas and set about composing her figures against the landscape. The confidence required to undertake such a task using only a hastily prepared oil study for reference was quite extraordinary, and Lucy was only in her early twenties at the time.
Some eighty years later, I stood before this astonishing painting, skin hot from sunburn, salty sand trapped between my toes, and rolled damp towel tucked under my arm … I was completely transported to that cold, muddy lane with its grazing and rearing horses as recorded by Lucy Kemp-Welch all those years ago.’

When you visit Bournemouth, don’t miss going to see Lucy Kemp-Welch’s magnificent painting ‘The Gypsy Horse Drovers’ at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum.

Children’s Storybooks Reductions

You might like to know that all the children’s story books have been reduced in price here on this website.

These books (links below), all beautiful with pictures, will be a fun resource for children who are home schooling during this worrying time.

To allay any concerns, the books are new, straight out of the boxes that they arrived in from the printers, and I will pack them wearing disposable gloves and in new packaging.

Should you want an invoice, please be sure to fill in your email address when ordering and I will send it by email.

Children’s books reductions

WIZZY the Animal Whisperer by Anthony Ridgway and Suzan Houching

WIZZY and the Seaside Adventure by Anthony Ridgway and Suzan Houching

The Strange History of Seagulls by Maldwin Drummond

The Company of Goblins by Celia Leofsy

WIZZY the Animal Whisperer audiobook with voices by David Suchet and Sheila Suchet (the words are exactly the same as in the book – a great learning-to-read aid)

WIZZY and Slime – books by Anthony Ridgway and David Walliams

Dan, WIZZY and Nellie

The WIZZY books by Anthony Ridgway and

Slime by David Walliams

both about a boy in a wheelchair.

David Walliams broadcast from home during lockdown

Slime started as an idea planted by 11-year-old Dante Marvin, who asked David Walliams to write a book about a boy in a wheelchair. David Walliams has dedicated the book, ‘For Dante, the coolest kid on wheels’. . ….. (To buy Slime go to the end of this post.)

Click on the picture to watch the video, ‘How I Write’ by Anthony Ridgway

Anthony Ridgway started writing about his own wheelchair, WIZZY, when he was himself ‘the coolest kid on wheels’.

Anthony has cerebral palsy with sight impairment. When he was a boy, his dad would transcribe his stories to paper while he dictated. But since his dad passed away, Anthony uses a special computer programme to write the stories himself.

This was the start of Anthony’s wonderfully imaginative stories about Dan, James, Sophie and WIZZY, the irascible, funny and amazingly clever wheelchair.

Anthony’s first published story, WIZZY’s Worm, is available as an audiobook from Calibre Audio, a national charity lending free audiobooks for anyone who is print disabled.

To buy this book click on the picture

Author Anthony Ridgway’s next published story, WIZZY the Animal Whisperer, followed as a large paperback book. The beautiful illustrations by Suzan Houching tell the story too, allowing children who can’t read or who are learning to read to enjoy all the exciting twists and turns of the plot.

Click on the picture for video

At the book launch for WIZZY the Animal Whisperer, actor David Suchet had the guests in fits of laughter when he read a passage from the book.

To buy the audiobook click on the picture

A few months later, David Suchet and his wife, Sheila Suchet, recorded the whole story, giving voices to all the characters and inimitable timing to Anthony’s amusing dialogue.

The audiobook of WIZZY the Animal Whisperer faithfully follows the words in the paperback books so that early readers can use the audio alongside the book when learning to read.