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From: "Alan French" <>
Subject: Re: [AVNE] for Alan French Reply
Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2003 22:27:08 +1100
References: <20030109012613.32912.qmail@web21103.mail.yahoo.com>


Hi Rosalyn
Thanks for your interest in Len ,his surname was Griffiths ,and he
hailed from Benalla, he was originally
with Headquarters Squadron of our old 8th Light Horse
Regiment,when we became the 8th Aust Cav Regiment ,
I, ex Regimental Don R had transferred to the newly formed Light Aid
Detachment attached to the Regiment
as a motor cycle mechanic. Len must have upset someone
at HQ and he was banished to live in semi isolation out in
the bush with the greasy tech(?) staff .I think he may have been on strength
as our cook,Don"t remember much about his cooking,or lack thereof.
He had a very good camera (they were of of course prohibited) and spent a
lot of time photographing anything and everything.We set up a very basic
developing studio
in the workshop truck,and Len had a good collection of
photographs,which would have been most interesting now,
Unfortunately ,Len who never married ,lived alone,and when he died many
years ago the house remained intact
until a secondhand dealer bought everything,including I suppose the
photographs.His brother knew nothing of them. Len was a good tennis player
and when we moved to Adelaide River we built a tennis court of ant hills
rolled
down with machine gun carriers and trucks, and fenced with wire netting
scrounged from the the old mines at Pine
Creek .Len who had played A grade for Benalla used to take me up there in
our Army socks ,(alright we did have
shorts)and give me tennis lessons until I was able to provide a bit of
competition for him.
Unfortunately we did not have motorbikes in the Territory
so I had to teach him to drive a ute ,a nervous procedure
as he was possessed of a very heavy foot,or just liked fast
travel. It's a long time ago but I think the Griffiths did have
an "s". Much too late to check my old diaries.
Regards
Alan French





----- Original Message -----
From: "Rosalyn Strutton" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2003 12:26 PM
Subject: Re: [AVNE] for Alan French Reply


> Hi Alan
> Len had a great grandmother
> > who was a sister of Ned
> > Kelly and he rode
> > an Army bike as though he still had a fair amount of
> > "Kelly"blood.
>
> Are you able to share Len's surname, Please?
>
> many thanks,
>
> Rosalyn
>
> http://movies.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Movies
> - What's on at your local cinema?
>

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