WELL done Bolton Museum for “To Gypsyland”, a new exhibition by Romany artist Delaine Le Bas and Barby Ashanti.

This most thoughtful exhibition not only illuminates the richness and uniqueness of Romany culture, but also draws parallels between the struggles of the Roma peoples and those of other communities at various points in history.

By drawing on the museum’s collections and archives, the exhibition shows how involved with these struggles Bolton people have always been.

The most obvious link is made with the anti-slavery movement. At the time of the American Civil War, the working people of Bolton were plunged into great hardship when the blockade of southern US ports prevented the supply of cotton to the mills. The blockade was supported by the mill workers’ trades unions and the anti-slavery movement locally.

Another connection is made with the mass trespass of Winter Hill in 1896 when thousands of Boltonians protested against the closure of the moors by Col Ainsworth, for whom the interests of his grouse took precedence over the health of millworkers.

The Bolton Whitmanites also figure prominently in the exhibition. These formed a group of radical thinkers whose close links with the American poet resulted in the largest Walt Whitman archive outside the USA being located in Bolton Library. “To Gypsyland” delves into Bolton’s long tradition of supporting the oppressed and of striving to make the world a better place.

Chris Chilton Bolton