Around 20,000 gipsies from all over Britain and the rest of the world, including Castle Point's mayor Charles Smith, converged on a Gloucestershire town for the bi-annual gipsy horse fair.

The colourful event was held in the country market town of Stow-on-the-Wold although celebrations ran throughout the whole week.

Mr Smith today said: "It is an extremely colourful and interesting event. There are lots of things on sale that gipsies like to buy and you cannot get in the shops.

"There were also lots of books that you can't get in the libraries.

"There were 500 to 600 hundred stalls and lots of horses which sold from between £100 to £30,000 depending on the horse."

Mr Smith was invited to the event by mayor of Stow-on-the-Wold, Vera Norwood who is a strong supporter of the event.

Published Wednesday October 30, 2002

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