Fifty years of Bayley Birds in full flight

Within the Bayley House community, it is said that Christmas does not begin until the Bayley House Concert has been held.

The Bayley House concert, is in fact the result of incredible support from our dedicated fundraising volunteers, the Bayley Birds. Formed in February 1973, after an advertisement was placed in the local paper, seeking support from Brighton mothers to start an auxiliary and fundraising club. The advertisement led to four women, who worked on fundraising at the children’s hospital, responding.

Three of the four women are still part of the group: Gwenda Hance, Margaret Templeton, and Janet Walter. The four women met with the Bayley House board, and then Brighton council, which led to the Bayley Birds being formed. The group is currently led by founding member Faye Barrow. The group has had up to 15 members over the years and has contributed to Bayley House and the wellbeing of our clients in many exceptional ways.

Fifty years of support has meant an incredible $1.5million dollars has been raised by the Bayley Birds. While the Christmas Concert is an event that many people know the Bayley Birds for, it was their creativity and drive that fostered many wonderful events over the years. Golf days, gala balls at the Hyatt Regent, Menzies Rialto (as they were known), fashion parades, tennis days, movie night and so much more!

All of the Bayley House community extend our most sincere thanks to the brilliant Bayley Birds, the passion and dedication this group has shown supporting adults with intellectual disability has been unwavering for fifty years. The time, effort and energy they have all contributed to the livelihood of Bayley House has been nothing short of inspirational. So much so, that their efforts were recently recognised by James Newbury MP in Parliament. You can read his full transcript here.