Page 39 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - January 19
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“The crazy storms that took place all over Israel on the first two days were a minor glitch,” said Elaine
Black (nee Goldstone), who is married to Gary.
The Mancunian couple are members of Mevo Hama.
“The years melted away and it was like being a kid at camp again, well worth the hard work that went
into preparing the reunion and wonderful that everyone enjoyed themselves so much,” Elaine added.
Mevo Hama was one of the first kibbutzim to be settled following the 1967 war; the first settlers coming
from among Israeli youth movement pioneers, who were joined a few years later by Garin Chet members
from the UK and movement peers from other countries.
Not all Garin Chet members who made aliya remained at Mevo Hama.
Many eventually gravitated to cities such as Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and others to other kibbutzim
or moshavim.
Liverpudlian Ivri Tasker, who was a movement worker at the Habonim Ken in Manchester prior to aliya,
is a member of Kibbutz Givat Haim in the Sharon Plains, while Mancunian Russell Hessayon lives in a
Galilean moshav.
As well as Elaine and Gary, other Garin Chet members who have remained in Mevo Hama are
Mancunian Howard Marcus and Glaswegians Frank Donnell and Lenny Levstein.
Phil Michaelson and Joanne Krucker, Brits who were movement workers in Manchester in the 1970s,
have also built their lives on the Golan Heights, as have Londoners Natalie Sofair and Ted Smolan, from
the original British contingent.
REUNITED: From left: Liverpudlian Ivri Tasker with Mancunians Shloime Alman,
Barry Coleman, Elaine Black (nee Goldstone), Linda Levine (nee Fidler), Ann Marks
(nee Shilco), Judi Kay, of Rochdale, and Russell Hessayon
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