Les Youie OAM. Patron and long-time friend of AYB.

AYB was formed as the Moomba Youth Band to perform as a 'one-off' at the 1979 Melbourne Moomba Festival’s Silver Jubilee. The band was such a success that Les Youie, and other parents, campaigned to keep it running for future Moomba Festivals and other public events. A committee was formed with Les as President and the band performed under the Moomba Festival banner into the 1980s.

When the Moomba Board could no longer support the band, Les led a movement to establish a parents’ association as a legal entity to be known as the Melbourne Moomba Youth Band Association Inc. He drew up the constitution and the association was incorporated on 7 August 1987. It is now known as the Australian Youth Band Association Incorporated and large portions of that original constitution continue to serve us well to this day!

Over the years, Les held the positions of President 1979-1985, Treasurer 1992-1993, and Public Officer 1988-1996. He was the first recipient of the Association’s prestigious Life Membership award in 1989. Since 1978, many hundreds of young people have had opportunities to play, develop and travel as performing musicians in a supportive and nurturing environment with MMYB/AYB and this is in no small part due to the efforts of Les Youie.

In 2007, Les Youie was awarded the Order of Australia medal for his years of service to community groups in addition to our own, including the Young Chinese League.

Les was made a Patron of AYB in March 2014 in recognition of his outstanding dedication, service, advice and continued enthusiastic support over a long period. Also in 2014, the Les Youie Long Service Award was established in recognition of 10 years of service by band members.