I congratulate the member for Castle Hill on the arrival of his second daughter, Amelia Frances, on 28 September.
It was with great pleasure that I was invited to the Beresfield RSL Remembrance Day service on the weekend. I am fortunate in my electorate to have a number of small villages, and Beresfield is one of them. The service was held at the Woodberry War Memorial, which is just outside my electorate across the train line. I acknowledge the work of Alf and Lyn Keevers who are the stalwarts of that group. Basically if anything RSL-related occurs it is due to the work of Alf and Lyn. More than 80 people attended on a beautiful warm Sunday, as opposed to the wet days they have had in the past. I recognise the collection of old and young people who were together on the day. On that Sunday a number of young people from various public and private schools, Girl Guides, Scouts, people from Neighbourhood Watch groups, Lady Lions and returned service people gathered to recognise Remembrance Day—which is only two days away.
Wreaths and books were used to reflect the day. It is appropriate that we recognise the day with books as much as we do with wreaths because books can educate our young people about the wars we have fought and hopefully avoid them in the future. Adorned in uniforms, with bagpipes and drums, the returned servicemen and students marched in and out of the gathering. It was terrific to hear from returned servicemen who had served in almost every conflict since World War II. Somehow there was time in the service schedule for almost every school, Girl Guide or Scout group to say a prayer, recite an ode or give a speech of congratulations or thanks. The young people were not tokenistic on the day and were very involved in the service. It was a tribute to the Beresfield RSL, to Alf and Lyn Keevers and to the people of Woodberry who attended in such terrific numbers to reflect on and remember those who were courageous enough to go off and serve this great country in war in times past.