Play2Give & Oxford Head Injury Services

Over £40k for Oxford Head Injury Services

Oxford Head Injury Services (formerly Headway Oxfordshire) is Oxfordshire’s brain injury charity supporting adults with acquired brain injuries aiming to improve recovery and wellbeing at every stage of their rehabilitation journey.  Providing expert rehabilitation, specialist therapies, information and community support for people who have experienced brain injury and their families, OHIS restores hope, connections and empowering people to rebuild their lives after brain injury.  From providing therapeutic services to compliment rehabilitation such as yoga to physiotherapy, speech therapy, memory workshops and practical support, Oxford Head Injury Services provides a range of expert support services and compassionate care, for adults who have experienced brain injuries and their carers.

OHIS relies on fundraising to keep its excellent services running, and thanks in part to our support, we are able to help them to keep their essential and life-affirming services going.

How have Play2Give supported OHIS?

Play2Give’s fundraising efforts over the years has been key in the refurbishment of OHIS‘s Activity and Rehabilitation Centre (ARC) in Kennington which was completed in September 2016. Thanks to our supporters involved in our fundraising efforts, a lot of the funds we helped raise went towards the appeal £200,000 funding appeal to make the facility more ‘chic and modern looking’. 

Our own Andrew Baker attends the centre twice weekly as part of his rehabilitation for the twice sustained brain injuries he sustained.  He has been under the services of OHIS since 2012. He began volunteering in the fundraising office in 2011. To date, and since 2013, we have now raised in funds alone over £35,000!

The charity recognised Andy’s incredible achievement in reaching £30k by awarding him as an OHIS Superhero in December 2024, at the Thursday group’s Christmas party.  We funded the Christmas lunches for all service users and carers across three groups, as well as the Christmas activities and towards the upkeep of the activity and rehabilitation centre, all raised from funds we raised for OHIS from our 2024 007 ball.

Andy’s Room

Over £5,000 raised for OHIS from 2024, and some of 2025’s events and activities, completely transformed a ‘dull, drab and tired’ room into a relaxation space – a sensory room complete with specialised furnishings, artwork, tactile and sensory items, fidget toys, interactive elements, lights and sounds and painted in colours designed to be relaxing, calm and comforting. As a thank you to Play2Give and Andy, the room has been called Andy’s Room, as a lasting legacy. The brand new sensory room officially opened at the end of January 2026 with a special ribbon cutting ceremony marked over cake and fizz with OHIS staff, volunteers, trustees and service users alongside Andy – who cut the ribbon – and members and supporters of Play2Give.

Helping to fundraise towards the first dedicated neurological physiotherapy gym

Another large fundraising focus with Oxford Head Injury Services previously was supporting a  £30,000 gym appeal, that, again with our supporters, we helped play a small part in creating Oxfordshire’s first dedicated neurological physiotherapy gym of its kind in the voluntary sector in the county.

The highly specialised neurological physiotherapy gym with dedicated personal trainers, based within the centre, ensures that it is easily accessible for those with physical disabilities and specialised exercise equipment, key to the recovery and rehabilitation of adults with brain injuries. Our own Andy benefits a great deal from this specialised gym. In 2017, thanks to £7,000 we raised in our tenth anniversary year, we helped to fund six custom-made purple exercise chairs at £7,000. 

​People with brain injuries often have associated mobility issues making it impossible for them to use standard exercise equipment like that of high street gym’s. We were proud to be part of the neurological gym appeal, which helped to make this dedicated space possible, officially unveiled as part of the centre’s grand re-opening in May 2017.

Funding and equipping accessible garden

In 2019, we provided over £500 from funds we raised to help towards funding the creation of a fully accessible and wheelchair-friendly garden. This garden, completed in 2022, saw its old green space transformed into a garden that all those with disabilities, mobility issues and in wheelchairs could access on a flat level, and providing access for green-fingered service users to regain life skills in gardening they may have previously. We also provided the supply of furnishings and items for the garden, from a bird bath, wooden planters, to garden games.