GYPSIES have scotched a rumour that the site of today's Stow Horse Fair has been sold.
Anonymous email traffic fuelled supposition that today's gypsy gathering would be the last on Maugersbury Road field, on the edge of Stow-on-the- Wold.
But Walter Henry, who co-owns the field with three colleagues, said: "They also said this morning on email Stow Horse Fair was cancelled and there were no caravans on the field.
"We haven't sold the field and the fair is going to go ahead – it's only going to get better. We want to keep this tradition going. Maybe these rumours are being spread by jealous and spiteful people who want to spoil the event. A few years' back, they spread the word there was going to be two gypsy gangs from the north and south and lots of murders. We had a huge police presence, including helicopters."
Today, Gloucestershire police and crime commissioner Martin Surl will visit the larger of the annual May and October events on a fact-finding mission.