An activist for the Travelling community in the south of England who originally came from Moate was awarded an MBE from Queen Elizabeth on Wednesday (March 11 ) for services to her community.
Despite this honour, Bridie Jones must still attend the High Court in London next week as part of an ongoing fight to stay on the plot of land in Canterbury she calls home.
Bridie, who has been active in promoting Travellers’ rights for over 35 years, helped set up the Canterbury Gypsy and Traveller Support Group in 2001, which acts as a source of advice and assistance on Traveller traditions and culture in Kent and the south of England.
Like so many social activists, Bridie regards this honour as an important step forward for her community rather than herself but stressed that much more needed to be done.
“We’ve made progress, it’s taken a long time, but we’re not there yet,” she said.
“The government recognises that Travellers do need sites; you can’t keep evicting them from one spot to another.
“They talk about education, education, education for children, but if you don’t have a permanent place to stay, how do you get your kids to school?”
For the last eight years Bridie and her partner, Joe, have been fighting to stay on a plot of land they bought to house three caravans and three mobile homes for their son, daughter and seven grandchildren.
While racism against Travellers has waned, the Joneses believe discrimination still exists, particularly in the planning system and within local government.
“The big issue is still acceptance,” says Joe.
“There has been a massive change in the attitude of the government, but there’s still no social acceptance. That’s what we’re fighting for. We want our children to grow up with the same aspirations that other children have.
“We have been given planning permission by the county council and by two inspectors but some villagers have set up a group to stop us and they keep appealing. It is very aggravating. You have children born and bred on that land."
Through her work with the Canterbury Gypsy Traveller Support Group, Bridie gets a lot of calls from Travellers about similar planning problems.
“In some cases it is just ethnic cleansing," she claims.
“In Basildon the council is spending £3m on bailiffs to evict Travellers from a site. There are 300 children on that site and some are sick and some are dying. We're supposed to be in a credit crunch and yet they spend all this money to put people off their own land."
