LONDON LEGACY
(Registered charity No 1085603

Patron: His Excellency The High Commissioner for Australia.

10th January 2008 2pm.

PRESS RELEASE

At the 60th Annual General Meeting of London Legacy held at Australia House today, Legatee Lindsay Birrell was elected President. He had previously held the position of Honorary Treasurer. Legatee Mrs Liz O’Brien was re-elected Honorary Secretary and Legatee Mrs Vicky Genrich was elected Honorary Treasurer. The incoming President paid tribute to the long service given to London Legacy by David Woodcraft our retiring President and a special thank you to David’s family during the long period of David’s illness.

Mr Birrell said that London Legacy was continuing its efforts to raise funds to increase its work supporting widows of Australian and New Zealand servicemen still living in Europe.

A major effort will be mounted on Anzac Day this year to collect donations and to sell Legacy ANZAC pins at both the Dawn service and at the Cenotaph in Whitehall. We welcome assistance in this endeavour from interested Australian and New Zealanders. For the full story, visit www.londonlegacy.org.

Mr Birrell is also a Fellow of CPA Australia and Vice President European Branch, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries & Administrators and holds the Freedom of the City of London. Lindsay is also a volunteer for the National Trust at Chartwell, and at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre. He brings a wealth of business experience to this position.

He served on HMAS Sydney in 1956, his father and four of his 5 uncles left Sydney harbour on the Queen Mary (with Alfred Spooner) in 1940 to serve in the 7th Army and later in New Guinea. His uncle Len was a 25-pound gun commander with the 2/12th, a Rat of Tobruk. All returned safely to Australia after WW11. Contact Lindsay Birrell 07505145461.

Legatee Birrell in the middle with Col Mathewson and Col Coyle (army advisors). They are with Mrs Joan Spooner, a London Legacy widow, at the unveiling of a cabinet at Australia House, London, displaying her husband’s kit she preserved for 65 years. Alfred Spooner served with the 2/13th,was a Rat of Tobruk and a POW for 4 years.