Page 14 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - October 19

members in the early 20’s, many of whom were born type of tractors where you had to use all your
in Europe and had come to Britain as refugees. strength to turn the starting handle, which had a
terrible kick back, not like today with automatic
ignition. I have pleasant memories of this time, and
although the work was hard, it did not bother me. I
learned a lot about agriculture, and the exposure to
different tasks came in handy later on.
The worst job, as I remember, was picking Brussel
sprouts covered with ice on a cold frosty morning. I
remember one freezing morning picking these ice-
cold sprouts with one of the girls, I think from
London. She cursed like a trooper, and amazed all
the local yokels with her vocabulary. I remember the
farmer taking me aside and asking whether all our
Although I knew how to cycle, I had never cycled girls behaved like this! I loved working in the
long distances. This was essential if I wanted to get cowshed, it was warm and cozy, even if it smelt a bit,
to work in one of the nearby (or not so nearby) farms. and sitting next to the cow and milking by hand was
We had a collection of bikes left over from other quite an experience. I became a good cowman, and it
members. I quickly learned the ropes and the next helped that I had a love of animals (previously cats
day was sent out to work. I do not think any of us and dogs). As far as I can recall I worked here all
had ever been close to a cow before and here we
were in front of a pile of cow manure, shoveling the
stuff into a cart. It must have looked like a scene
from a comic movie or a Monty Python show.
We all struggled getting the fork into the pile, and
equally struggled lifting it up and moving it into the
cart. None of us had handled pitchforks and shovels
before, and with great difficulty, we extracted the
material, which was all compressed together.
Although we thought, we were working hard, when it
was time to go home, the farmer told us, in no
uncertain terms, not to bother coming back. Although
we were cheap labor, our productivity was such that
he preferred local labor. Thus my introduction to through my period at Hurst Grange. Certainly, my
Hachshara, and farming - fired after one day on the Hachshara was a success in learning how to work,
job. and to some extent enjoying it. I also may have been
The next day after this incident, I was sent to work in one of the few to have a stable job.
a local market garden. The owner of the farm was a At Hurst Grange, there was an interesting group of
decent gentleman farmer. He employed quite a people. Most were older than I was. In retrospect, I
number of the crazy “Jewish kids”. I must have must have been the youngest kid to go on Hachshara
worked quite well since I did not lose this job but did up until then. Most of the others at the farm were in
all sorts of jobs around the farm, including harvesting their 20’s, some were married and many were those
various kinds of greens, feeding the pigs (who who had escaped from Europe, or had served in the
always wanted to take a bite out of me), and milking forces during the war. I can imagine that I must have
the cows. This was before milking machines were appeared like a little kid, or an unruly teenager.
common. I also learned to drive a tractor, a Ferguson (From photographs of that time I looked like a wild
and Ford, which placed me in a good position later unruly teenager, sporting a large Afro in the days
on in life. before such a “style’ was known).
I actually used my tractor driving skills to help put
me through college 15 years later! These were the

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