Happy Birthday, Mum!

In Australia today my Mum celebrates her 80th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Mum!

Right: With Mum in Port Macquarie, Australia – July 13, 2017.

I've said it many times before but it's definitely worth repeating: My brothers and I are very fortunate to have Margaret Anne Bayly (née Sparkes) as our mother. She is a beautiful, wise and strong woman who extends care, kindness, and love to everyone she encounters.

I love you, Mum, and can’t thank you enough for who you are and for all you continue to be and give to me, my brothers, our family, and so many others whose lives are fortunate enough to be touched by yours!

Above: The Bayly family – Sunday, August 6, 2017. This photo was taken at the 80th birthday party for my Dad that I organized when I was last back in Australia, July-August of 2017. For more images of this very special celebration, click here.

In celebrating Mum's's birthday at The Wild Reed in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2017 I shared quite a number of photos from the Bayly family archives. In fact, it was a bit of a chore to find new ones for this post! But rest assured, I found a few. Enjoy!

Above: Mum (center) with her friends Elaine (left) and Fay in the late-1950s.


Above: Mum and Dad on their wedding day in Gunnedah, November 7, 1959.



Above: The Bayly family, photographed in the mid-1970s. From left: Me, Dad, Mum, my younger brother Tim, and my older brother Chris.

From the decorations in the background I can tell that this photo was taken around Christmas. What year exactly, I can't say. I do know it was taken at the home of my Mum's younger sister Ruth, her husband Rex, and their two children – my cousins Emily and Greg. At that time they lived on a small farm just outside of Gunnedah.



Above: Mum on Christmas Day, 1984.

Above: Mum with (from left) her mother-in-law, Belle Smith (1919-2005), and her mother, Olive Sparkes (1906-1997). This photo was taken at the wedding of my younger brother Tim and his wife Ros in 1990.

Above: Mum and I with my paternal grandparents, Bill and Belle Smith – Christmas Day, 1991.

Above: Mum, Dad, and I with Mum's older sister, Fay, and my niece, Layne – December 30, 2009.

Above: With Mum and Dad and their Port Macquarie friends Bob and Daphne – Friday, August 18, 2017.

Above: A lovely shot of Dad and Mum in Port Macquarie – August 10, 2017.


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Thanks, Mum!
• Happy Birthday, Mum (2017)
• Happy Birthday, Mum (2015)
• Happy Birthday, Mum (2014)
• Happy Birthday, Mum (2013)
• Happy Birthday, Mum (2011)
• Happy Birthday, Mum (2010)
• Happy Birthday, Mum (2009)
• Congratulations, Mum and Dad!
• Catholic Rainbow (Australian) Parents