THE Eckington gipsies are receiving mounting support from villagers wanting to see them return to land they own next to an area of outstanding natural beauty.

The petition they have set up has collected nearly 1,000 names, who say the gipsies should be allowed to return to the land from where Wychavon District Council evicted them in early April.

Solicitors acting for the gipsies will meet council officials on Monday to try to solve the dispute.

When their quarrel with the council began, the gipsies moved on to land in the shadows of Pershore Abbey, and then the Civic Centre car park. It triggered the Bishop of Worcester, the Rt Rev Dr Peter Selby, to urge the council to recognise the needs and the lifestyle of minorities living within its boundaries.

After moving off the car park under the threat of high court action, they settled at Beckford Village Hall, east of Tewkesbury, but still inside Wychavon District.

"The council has made us homeless from land we bought ourselves, so nowthey have a duty to provide us with somewhere to go," said one gipsy known only as Billy. "We moved to neutral land because the council said they would speak to us only if we got off their land.

"The people in the village here have been very supportive, and said we could stay as long as we like, but we'll only be here for a week because we don't want to ruin the grass," he added.

"We've got that many people supporting us - even the Bishop and the chief of police are doing everything they can to help us," he explained.

Before they were evicted from their owned site, the gipsies constructed a wooden panel fence with internal partitions, and laid down hardcore for their caravans. Many of the children enrolled at Eckington First School. The group said they want to settle there so their children can be educated with access to health facilities.

Anyone wanting to sign the petition can do so at the gipsies' camp at Beckford.