Sidlesham woman awarded MBE for work with young people with disabilities

Lizzie Baily, 39, from Sidlesham, has been awarded an MBE for services to disability advocacy and her charity work in West Sussex for the last two decades.

Lizzie took the reins of Wellspring, a charity which provides information, dialogue and discussion with and for children and young people with disabilities, and their parents and carers in West Sussex.

Lizzie, who lives with Congenital Muscular Dystrophy, became involved the charity in 1999 when she was in year ten. Two years later and she was the editor and chairperson for the charity.

She said: "I found out on December 2 and I received an email that went into my junk mail so it came as quite a shock to me to open it and read that. It was very surreal and I was in complete disbelief to start with – it felt like I was in a little bit of a dream."

Her phone ‘would not stop ringing’ when family and friends hear the news too: “There was enormous surprise and delight from everybody and I have just been overwhelmed with all the messages of congratulations and support. My phone would not stop ringing on that Saturday morning.

"When I started [at Wellspring] it was just a a small 12 page newsletter and now we have our own website and Facebook page and our newsletter is a full-colour 16-page and twice a year.

"It also runs fully funded workshops for groups of children and young people."

Lizzie will be invited to a ceremony at Buckingham Palace at a later date - the first honours ceremony under the reign of King Charles III.

In 2019, she was recognised by the University of Chichester which awarded Lizzie an honorary masters in education in recognition of all her invaluable work with children and young people.

The charity survives on generous donations and grant applications. You can make a donation or if you want to find out more about the charity, click here: Wellspring