A tireless advocate of a city organisation that supports people with disabilities and their families has died aged 76.

Barbara Bird, from Jericho, Oxford, had worked with Oxford and District Mencap for nearly 30 years.

The voluntary group runs a weekly club and provides summer holidays each year for people with learning disabilities.

Committee member Colin Saunders said: “She was a tower of strength. All within Oxford Mencap and many people beyond have reason to be grateful for her friendship and her example in using her time and talents in helping other people.”

Mrs Bird was born Barbara Burgess in Oxford on May 31, 1938, to parents Arthur and Vera.

She was a pupil at St Barnabas Primary School and after leaving became a shop assistant at Elliston and Cavell, in Magdalen Street, where Debenhams now stands.

Miss Burgess married Ivor Bird at St Paul’s Church, Walton Street, on April 30, 1960, and in 1966 they had their first daughter Carolyn, followed by Susan in 1971.

In the 1970s she became a supervisor at Polstead Playgroup, in Polstead Road. She left in 1986.

She was then appointed supervisor of the Opportunity Playgroup, in Summertown, for children with special needs under the age of five, in January 1986.

For the next 12 years she devoted herself five mornings each week to the care of the children.

The playgroup, started by Oxford and District Mencap in 1971, was one of the first three in the country giving such specialist care. Mrs Bird kept in touch with many of the families as the children grew up.

After retiring in 1998, she and her husband Ivor were regular visitors to the group’s Seven O’Clock Club for teenagers and adults with a learning disability every Wednesday.

In 2000 Mrs Bird was elected the group’s chairman, a role she carried out until March 2014.

Holidays organised by the Mencap committee included weeks at the Hill End outdoor centre, in Eynsham Road, as well as an annual stay at a farmhouse near Brecon in Wales.

Katie Hollier, chairman of Oxford and District Mencap, added: “At Hill End we will miss the roars of approval when Barbara used to come on site.

“She was known to so many and her smile and the help she gave were probably underestimated. But she was the bedrock from which the holidays kept growing.”

Ms Hollier added: “Many in Oxford and the region knew her for the incredible care and time she took over people with learning disabilities, as well the support she gave to their families.”

Mrs Bird died on March 23 from cancer, following complications after an operation. A funeral was held at Oxford Crematorium on April 15.

She is survived by daughters Carolyn and Susan as well as five grandchildren, Ben, Steven, Sophie, Richie and Jamie.