September saw Baytree’s 25th Anniversary and to mark this our fundraising committee planned a fabulous week of workshops and events. Our celebrations kicked off on Monday 26th with an exhibition and silent auction organised by Baytree arts volunteer Caley Holmboe. All pieces of work were generously donated by a range of local artists and we all enjoyed the diverse range of artistic skill on show. Over the next few days the exhibition space was opened up for a community yoga and meditation workshops, both of which worked well in the lovely space at Brixton East. The exhibition and classes were a great success and we would like to thank everyone who joined us for them!
The week of celebrations ended with our anniversary party at 300 Brixton Road on Friday evening. The night’s programme was packed with live music, performances and a raffle accompanied by drinks and delicious canapes by the Lido Café. The proceedings kicked off with a speech from our CEO Caroline which highlighted to everyone the effect of the work Baytree does in our community and the importance of continual support. Following the speech was a performance by previous student of Baytree’s ‘into school’ programme Jocasta, who wowed everyone with the story of her journey to Baytree and an acapella vocal set which was definitely a highlight of the night. The evening carried on with drinks and chatter whilst guests enjoyed food served by some of our Baytree girls & their mothers, and we all captured the night with a live portrait sketcher and the Baytree photo booth. The evening was fun and full of variety, which we believe reflects the Baytree Centre itself very well indeed!
Over £3,500 was raised and we would like to thank everyone who joined us to celebrate the anniversary. Thank you also to our generous sponsors: Lido Café, Canopy Beer, San Miguel, the Spanish Ham Master and Gu. Here’s to another 25 years of Baytree!