When Asa and Gwen Pryke ran a successful business from home there, they were accepted as outstanding members of the local community. But since their business closed due to the financial crash they have become outcasts.
The couple were forced to sell up after their bank refused them a loan to finance a large order, so they decided to move themselves and their school-age children into a trio of caravans in a field owned by Gwen’s family. Part of the reason for the high property values in the area is the wealth of local schools with first rate academic records.
Neither their neighbours nor the local council were the least bit interested in their plight, and they were quickly told to move on as if they were squatters or travellers instead of locals who were down on their luck.
“We have attempted to deal with our own problems without recourse to the tax-payer,” said Asa in an interview with this web site. “We are a hard working, normal and loving family. Despite the fact that we have few material possessions we have been exceptionally happy and our children have done well educationally. We feel we are better and stronger people for our experiences, some of which have been very harsh. We now face more challenges in the near future.
The family are a few days away from homelessness, and their entire income is now less than when they first applied for legal aid — approximately £1500.00 per month. Ironically Gwen’s family used to live in that same field – four generations ago.
In Court the Council claimed that they could rent a three bedroom house in the area for £450.00 per month. This was accepted by the Judge who said that this being the case they should be in rental as they could afford this. “In fact you can only rent a single room in Colchester for this money (£105.00 per week)” said Pryke, “and the Court was completely misinformed and out of touch to accept this.
“One can only speculate that the Barrister’s journey from his chambers to his favourite lunching spot and judging from his appearance he has a long one every day, does not take him past the numerous estate agents in Colchester. Either that or he deliberately misinformed the Court.”
14 Responses
I am sure there was a court ruling a few years back, in the West Country, whereby it was agreed that every human has a right to live in temporary accommodation of their own land.
Their place looks pretty good.
Clean, well kept.
Not one but three caravans.
They were active in the community.
They have history in the area.
And they are being asked by a court to leave?
Unless there are big parts missing from this story I’d have to conclude a power/authority or “who’s boss” issue.
Best wishes to the Prykes….and if Mr Pryke does go to prison,there will be chaos
ANARCHY!!!
I’m Gwen’s younger brother. It’s good to see them get a sympathetic hearing here – thank you for that.
A correction for you. Our family didn’t live on the land four generations ago. In fact, we lived there as kids for a couple of years, in a caravan in conditions of extreme privation. The land belonged to our father. He died intestate when we were teenagers. Gwen managed to secure title to it as the sole remnant of his estate.
Our ties to the village go back generations on my father’s side. We were born and raised there which is more than a good number of the inhabitants can claim!
And £450 for a house in Colchester? Utter balls!
By the way I have some interesting facts about debt ( uk ) if your up against it happy to tell you things that may help ?
There are ways to live like this you have to go gorilla, know the law inside out and tell them nothing, create a reason to be on the land is one way of doing it or just keep moving on and off, try and keep out of sight helps, it’s cat and mouse, don’t ever admit to living on the land, you have to play them at their own game.
We found it was easier to just leave the country for better opportunities in the third world; we are very happy and the people here are not materialistic. Looking forward to landing on some property where we can live co-dependently with the land, off-grid. Government/policia here seem willing to “live and let live”!
Well said Frank.
Here’s another story of hurting people for the pretense of maintaining the lie the entire society is living. You remember the mini series on TeeVee called the Prisoner. Well that did not apply to just those in the military Industrial Complex, (including your local council,) it applys to the entire landmass of the British Isles. Thats how its all done, and the rest play-along, through fear they will become targets of the social system supressing those forced out by the Theives hiding in the City of London and Temple Bar. Mere puppets of the mind-control installed at the 15’000 hours of forced indoctrination called government school. Thats how they maintian this lie you all live and feel inside as your spirit is dieing slowly without ever expressing its cosmic glory, And it is Cosmic, the child of earth is that being, if they would only stop sending (forcing) their own children into indoctrination camps for 12 years to think and behave as the rest of so-called decent society. Those decent enough to pay Tax-Theft enabling the MASS_MURDER globally to continue.
What more can i say. I’ll explode if i continue..
God bless you all! My wife and I have been homeless before and given the general state of things I’m fairly certain it will happen again. Living off the grid is rough without provisions,.solar power etc…we did it out of a tent and a car in southern california but we nearly froze to death in the winter. It’s hard to make a living when you’re living in the woods,..! I hope humanity survives and somehow all the good people convene together at some point so we can all help one another! Bless u all! Joseph & wife!
What gets me so angry about modern society is that most people are living a lie. These people in contrast have faced the truth head on and wish to take control of their own situation by readjusting their lives to live within their means. Instead of being praised for this they are being punished with money that can be used to help them actually being spent to prevent them from living this way!
We live in a country that is getting more and more into debt yet the people who face up to their own situation get penalised for it. The real criminals are Governments and Authorities.
revolution is the only way !
up the levellers !
Been there and done that Deborah, It’s not fun. But we just liquidated anything we didn’t need nor use often, sold off all the nicer cars and downgraded to $1500 “disposable” cars, focused on paying off the debts we accumulated. We still ended up losing the house, but when we moved out, we were debt free at that point so there was a fresh start awaiting the end of the foreclosure. We refocused, and started working on remodeling my inherited farm house, and actually start working toward our dreams for a change rather than focusing on sending my paycheck into everyone elses pockets.
Financial hardship was the best thing that ever happened to us in reality.
Sending love and courage to the family. We are in danger of homelessness as we are cut back more and more and the expenses rise. I have to close my bank account as I keep falling into overdraft and the bank has begun to charge enormous fee. It’s getting harder and harder by the day.