Early days in Habonim

In late July 1966, just before my tenth birthday, my parents bundled me off on a long train journey, first stopping at Cardiff and then continuing to Ripon in Yorkshire. There a few other small children and I were taken to an open field with some tents. My introduction to the wonderful world of Habonim had begun.

Habonim (literally "the builders") is a Jewish youth movement which had been started in England in 1928 and was similar to the Scouts, bar a few crucial differences. The Scouts were all about scouting, had a quasi-military system of organisation, were quite fanatical in their pursuit of badges and were boys only. Habonim was a liberal hot-pot of ideology (the three main tenets being Judaism, Zionism and Socialism), was very relaxed and had both boys and girls.

I don't know if my parents knew at the time exactly where they were sending me, but my father had been a member of Habonim in Cardiff during the 1930s, so I imagine that they thought that the camp would be good for me.

I must have spent the first week of the two week camp wandering around in a mental state which could be described as "shell shocked". I knew nobody and could barely understand what was happening around me, which was not made any easier by the fact that pidgin Hebrew phrases were being bandied about all the time.

It probably rained a lot and I slept in a cavernous and dark tent. I remember that there was a boy called Simon who caught tonsillitis after a few days and disappeared, never to be seen again. He came from Birmingham, and was replaced by another boy called Simon who also came from Birmingham. No wonder I was confused.

On my tenth birthday, the entire camp got together in the huge marquee, and for the first time in my life I was tossed up in a blanket in order to celebrate - frightening at first but I quickly learnt how to adapt. We also played some games, the likes of which I had never seen before, whose main intent seemed to be making fun of some unfortunate soul. As it was my birthday, I was one of the 'lucky' children chosen, but as it happens, I was mentally agile enough to succeed at the game and so not be ridiculed.

Obviously I must have started wising up, for I came home full of enthusiasm for the camp and vowed to go again. Little did I know that the foundation had been laid/the seeds had been sown for most of my future life.

The next camp was over the new year at Horsham, Surrey. As this was wintertime, we were inside buildings instead of in tents. Again I knew nobody, but at least I knew a few words of pidgin Hebrew and was able to keep my head above water.

The next summer, I finally met some children for the second time and had a very good time. I have some pictures of myself at this camp: I look like a little imp. I also met some children with whom I would spend the next ten years.

There was a foot and mouth epidemic in the winter of 1967, so the winter camp had been cancelled. Instead I went to London for a week, stayed with someone whom I didn't know (and have never met since) in a flat - yet another first for me - and went on a whirlwind of activities, again mainly with children whom I had never met before.

The next few years showed a consolidation: I began to know more and more children, fitting in very well. I played my first chord on an acoustic guitar and began writing songs (although I only wrote lyrics at first). I learnt more and more Israeli folk dances and learnt more about Israeli history. In the summer camp of 1969, I felt "master of the game", and miraculously everyone that I knew was in the same group as I.