Oxfordshire: Impact of floods still felt four months on

Oxfordshire Mind's office in Osney, Oxford, was flooded after heavy rainfall earlier this year

Two organisations are still dealing with the impact of widespread flooding that occurred at the start of 2024.

Mental health charity Oxfordshire Mind's base in Osney, Oxford, was flooded on the 4 January - with the offices still rendered unusable.

Meanwhile, The Mill Arts Centre in Banbury has had to move all of its shows to a nearby leisure centre.

Floods caused serious damage to the theatre's stage and floor - forcing it to remain closed until the end of June.

Storm Henk caused severe water damage to Oxfordshire Mind's premises in January, with the charity saying it still does not know when it'll be able to move back in.

CEO Jess Willsher said: "We're working together to try and make sure that we are as resilient as possible but unfortunately, with climate change, we know that this is something that's impacting communities across our area."

During the deluge, flood water got into the flooring of the building - causing substantial damage that has required "quite a lot more work" than the charity was "initially expecting".

Oxfordshire Mind workers have had to continue providing their service from home

The charity's staff have had to work from home and at shared office spaces during the repairs - which Ms Willsher said had been "unfortunate".

She added: "Our team's been phenomenal in adapting and finding ways to keep services going whilst we're not in our office space and we have been incredibly supported by the community."

'Devastating

The Mill Arts Centre in Banbury experienced a similar issue, with flood water causing serious damage to the stage and flooring in its auditorium.

The former watermill sits on a narrow piece of land in the town centre, between the Oxford Canal and River Cherwell - making it particularly susceptible to flooding during periods of heavy rain, such as those at the start of this year.

It had initially hoped to re-open the auditorium in mid-April, but inspections revealed more extensive work was required to fix the damage, and prevent it from reoccurring.

The Mill Arts Centre, in Banbury, said it'll be closed until the end of June

Andrew Lister, chief executive of The Mill said the effect of the floods had been "devastating" and that "live shows are our lifeblood".

In the meantime, they have organised for shows that would have otherwise been rescheduled, or cancelled, to instead be relocated to the nearby Woodgreen Leisure Centre.

The indoor bowls facility in the centre will be turned into a temporary auditorium whilst works to repair the theatre are carried out.

Emma Hiorns, creative director at The Mill, said: "Our auditorium may be temporarily out of action, but we are thrilled to be able to go ahead with as many performances as possible at The Mill at Woodgreen and keep bringing world-class live performance to Banbury."

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