Traveller Pride event returns to Grange after two-year break

(Video shows Tom McDonnell, one of the few tinsmiths still working in Ireland.)

The Traveller Pride event at Grange Resource Centre is one of those that is back this year following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, and it took place on Friday.

Christina Joyce, co-ordinator of the Primary Healthcare Project for Travellers in Westmeath, said they were delighted to be back, and it was thanks to a number of individuals and groups.

“What we are doing is celebrating being a Traveller and the positive things about Traveller culture,” Christina told the Westmeath Examiner.

“We have some Traveller boys singing and a man doing some old traditional Traveller songs. We have old photos of Travellers’ lives and Cant books I wrote to help keep that alive among the Traveller children, and also art that the children did for a competition, and they get their prizes today as well.

“We would like to thank Grange Resource Centre, especially Catherine McEntee, who has always been a great support in organising the Traveller Pride events, and for having us here at the centre, organising food and everything else she has for us. We also want to thank the Meath Travellers Workshop from Navan for bringing the tent and the tinsmith.”

Catherine McEntee is with Youth Work Ireland Midlands, who manage the resource centre in Grange.

She said: “This is the first time in two years that we’ve managed to have Traveller Pride, and it’s a big event for the community.

“The communities we work with have a lot of Travellers that live in them and this gives them something to focus on. It’s very good for the young people to see their culture and the way the older generations lived, previous to the way they live now, we have the wagons, tents, live traditional music.”

Catherine expressed her thanks to everybody that was involved, and funded the day and all the staff that put it together.