My friend Pixi Morgan, who has died aged 49 of a haemorrhage, was a punk, a new age traveller, a protester, a pagan, a busker and a bum. He touched the hearts of everyone he met.
He was born Neill Morgan in Cardiff, one of two sons of Dee, a housewife, and Robert, a driver and transport manager. When he was 13 years old, he won a bravery award for rushing into an old people’s home to warn the people inside that it was on fire. He saw the smoke and flames and alerted the staff. Subsequently 35 people were evacuated from the building.
At the age of 16 Pixi ran away from home and moved in with Steve Andrews, a local hippy, on Ely council estate on the outskirts of Cardiff. This was to be his home for many years. Pixi borrowed Steve’s guitar and soon became an accomplished musician.
Pixi had an extraordinary voice with great emotional range. He was never happier than when sitting by a fire in the woods late at night with his friends, entertaining them with his repertoire. Whatever song he sang, he always made it his own.
After some years Pixi became a new age traveller. He tried many different ways of life. He lived in benders (made of hazel switch and tarpaulin), in trucks, on protest sites and on traveller’s sites in many parts of the country. At one time he was part of a group of people living in handcarts, attempting to walk from Cornwall to Scotland by the ancient bridleways.
He was also a prominent road protester, involved in actions at Twyford Down and the Newbury bypass, among others. It was at Twyford that he met the well known eco-warrior and pagan, King Arthur Pendragon, and became a knight of the Loyal Arthurian Warband.
Pixi had many friends. One of his boasts was that he knew each and every one of his Facebook friends personally: that he had hugged them all. He was a great hugger. Not just a tree-hugger, a human-hugger too. Whenever he saw you after a length of time he would grab you, crushing you in his arms, growling with unfeigned affection.
There was nothing half-hearted about Pixi. He lived life to the full, and though he had opportunities to settle, he was always too restless, too eager for the next adventure. He got bored sitting in a house. The walls were too confining, the lure of the open road too strong.
He was always a drinker. It was part and parcel of the traveller lifestyle. Unfortunately, as the life and soul of the party he struggled to keep up with other people’s expectations. In the end drink took his life.
A collection of his recorded work can be downloaded at https://piximorgan.bandcamp.com/releases, or can be played online free of charge.
Pixi is survived by seven children by a number of partners, and by his mother, and brother, Cary.
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