The workshops that we offer at RTC are available year-round, but, unsurprisingly, there is an increased interest during June, which is Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month. The team has ventured north, south, and east to deliver O Romani Tober (The Romany Way) to audiences of children and young people in both schools and young offenders’ institutions. I dropped in and joined them for a performance and workshop session at Notre Dame school in Southwark last Friday.

We were invited to run a session for Notre Dame’s Year 7 group as part of their celebration of Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month. After Candis, Rachael, and Sarah-Jane had performed their captivating version of O Romani Tober — a play that charts the journey of the Romany people from India 1,500 years ago to present-day Britain — the year group broke into classes to participate in development sessions. I took my group back to their classroom where we discussed identity, how we define ourselves and others, and what can bring people together despite their differences. We also thought about life on the road and what the positive and negative aspects of constant travelling would be. The group finished by imagining they were one of the characters from the play, and writing a diary entry that described their feelings about being on the move all the time.

It was a pleasure to work with a group of young women who were so thoughtful and responsive, who could see nationality as something both unifying and divisive, who recognised who they could find things in common with people they scarcely knew, and who were so imaginative with their descriptions of life on the road. I hope that they enjoyed their afternoon as much as I did! Thank you, Notre Dame Year 7 and your teachers.