Born on a Somerset pea-field in 1941, the second of eight children in a Romani family, Maggie Smith-Bendell has lived through the years of greatest change in th

Maggie Smith-Bendell and her family are Romani Gypsies and, as she grew up, Maggie learned the old crafts and customs of the Gypsies' traditional way of life. I

Maggie Smith-Bendell provides more of her vivid memories, set in the context of the long history of the gypsies.

The eviction at Dale Farm in the UK in 2011 brought the conflicting issues relating to Gypsy and Traveller accommodation to the attention of the world's media.