Grand Opening for Banbury Building

The Oxfordshire High Sheriff Penelope Glen will officially open the new building for our North Oxfordshire Service on Friday. The event is the culmination of a week of activities for our members including chocolate-making, miniature furniture-making, bread-making, cv-writing, public-speaking, and self-defence.

Formerly a warehouse, the building has been converted to office space and workshops to help people with mental health problems with their recovery. Members do gardening, woodwork, crafts and run a shop open to the public. The group outgrew the previous building provided by Cherwell District Council because of demand for the service.

The North Oxfordshire group moved into the premises in October 2011 and has had support from the community who have donated furniture. After an arson attack on the group’s allotment in November, Hillier’s Garden Centre donated a new summer house and Argos, Homebase and Brantano all gave tools and equipment.

Katrina Horne, Recovery and Personalisation Manager, said, “We are very excited to be launching the service in a new building. Service users, volunteers and staff have all worked really hard to get it ready.”

High Sheriff Penelope Glen said, “It gives me great pleasure to officially launch Restore’s service in Banbury as I was involved in the judging of the Oxfordshire Charity and Volunteer Awards in October 2011 when Restore was declared Charity of the Year. I congratulate all those who have contributed to Restore’s expansion into North Oxfordshire.”