Picnic at Horeshim Park

If I’m not mistaken, Garin Makor, a group of young English and Australian idealists from the “Habo” youth movement, settled on Kibbutz M’vo Hama some time in the mid 70s of the last century. Something like 30 years on, some of them are still there on M'vo Hama, on the southern edge of the Golan Heights, marvelling from their cliff top at the dreamlike sunsets shimmering over the Kinneret and Tiberius, as the sun sinks into the Southern Galilean mountains.
Life being as insolent and impudent as it is to ideological policy and idealism, most of the garin have drifted off to build their lives elsewhere, some in Israel some OS. But the bonds formed in those not so far off crypto pioneering years still hold strong and every year the cobbers (chaverim) hold a diverse set of reunions, a good ol’ piss up, a family picnic and a civilised restaurant dinner.
In spite of what you would think the numbers are growing. This is partly due to demographic expansion and partly due to vagrant former chanichim turning up round the table like perennial talmedim chuchumim; and then there are their vagabond spouses and sprogs to boot and other hangeroners who’ve heard about these happy time warps. It all makes for good times.
The last reunion was held in the Horeshim Forest last month.
Mike Benn and Morry Sommer spawned a sophisticated publicity campaign based on an avalanche of trying emails, so no one dared forget the date. Joe and the inimitable Harry brought along the great bloody round kibbutz barbie and the meat and beer were plentiful. The weather was kind and the gum trees were shady. Anyone who wasn’t there is a rotten egg. (can't say things like shirtl... these days)