A group of local volunteers are looking for more to join their ranks.
Team Colyton is a purely volunteer based group that spends the year fundraising for their grand finale event, the Colyton Carols.
Team members Gayle Wyatt and Lucie Morched shared that the group is great for retirees but is open to anyone who wants to join.
“Volunteers can be any age,” Morched said.
“It’s also about embracing that next generation, Gayle is older than me, but we are able to have a friendship.
“In Team Colyton we are open to any age group and even though there is a difference in our ages we have formed a great friendship because we base it back on growing up in Colyton.
“I’ve been in Colyton for 38 years; I grew up here and so we have those memories that we can connect about.”
The group spends the year fundraising at Bunnings to be able to put on their grand finale event.
“We are just a small group of volunteers that live in Colyton. We get together once a month and we spend the year fundraising and our big finale at the end of the year is the Colyton Carols,” Wyatt said.
The Colyton Carols is a well-loved community event and Wyatt said that the community attendance has grown each year.
“Back in 2014 when it was first put on, 250 people attended the Colyton Carols event… and it has now grown to over 2,500-3,000 people,” Wyatt said.
“It has become quite traditional and historical in Colyton.
“It’s kind of expected that the team puts this on at the end of the year. I think many people would be disappointed if we didn’t go to this trouble.
“We’ve actually already started to prepare… this year we want to go a little bit bigger.”
Wyatt and Morched are calling for anyone in the Colyton community to reach out to the group and contribute what they can.
“There is only nine of us on Team Colyton and the majority of us are retirees and aging and we have all lived in this community now, me personally for 46 years,” Wyatt said.
Wyatt said it was important to connect with older residents via traditional means, after a neighbour told her he missed last year’s Carols event because he didn’t spot a flyer in his letterbox.
“We stopped the letterbox drop-off because it is labour intensive and it costs money for printing and everything, that’s when we went to social media,” she said.
“But we are missing out on that older crowd.”
Team Colyton is grateful for the support it gets from Howard at Colyton Pharmacy.
For anyone wanting more information or to volunteer with Team Colyton, visit their Facebook page or send an email to [email protected].
Emily Chate
Emily Chate joined The Western Weekender in 2024, and covers local news - primarily courts and politics. A graduate of the University of Wollongong, Emily has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and worked as a freelance journalist.