DORSET dignitaries paid their respects to Romany, Gypsies and Travellers who lost their lives at the annual Dorset Roma Holocaust Memorial Service.

The service remembers the day and night of August 2, 1944, when 2,897 Roma and Sinti died at Auschwitz-Birkenau camp at the hands of the Nazis.

At the annual Dorset event, held in Kingston Maurward College on August 2, 2021, where many local dignitaries, led by the Lord Lieutenant, as well as local Gypsies, Travellers and supporters attended.

Guests watched and learnt footage courtesy of Drive2Survive was shown of Romany Billy Welch, organiser of the famous Appleby Horse Fair, who spoke out against the vilification of his people.

The Revd. Roger Redding MBE, former Chaplain to Travellers sang an old folk song ‘The Hawthorn and the Clover’, describing the decimation of a former nomadic way of life.

Poems written especially for the service by Ray Wills, Jess Smith and Gillian Green were recited by Karen Packman, Sue Miller and Ray Wills.

Betty Billington-Smith, chair of Kushti Bok, a Dorset Traveller led charity and campaigning group, said: “It’s important to remember the Holocaust because the conditions and attitudes that led to it in Nazi Germany are present in British society today.

“As I always say Auschwitz is only sleeping, we must all make sure it never wakes.”