A new sensory room named in honour of brain injury campaigner Andy Baker MBE has opened at Oxford Head Injury Services’ activity and rehabilitation centre in Kennington, creating a dedicated space to support adults living with acquired brain injuries.
The new facility, officially called Andy’s Room, has been made possible through a generous donation from Play2Give, the Didcot-based charity founded by Andy Baker.
The opening was marked with a celebratory ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday 29 January, bringing together charity trustees, service users and supporters, alongside local dignitaries including the Mayors of Didcot and Oxford.
Designed to provide a calm, comforting and therapeutic environment, Andy’s Room allows individuals to regulate sensory elements such as light and sound, helping to reduce anxiety and overstimulation. The space will also be used for speech therapy, yoga sessions, music therapy and one-to-one consultations, supporting recovery in a non-clinical setting.
Sensory rooms play a vital role in neurorehabilitation, helping people rebuild confidence, improve emotional wellbeing and reconnect with their surroundings during what can be a challenging recovery journey.
Andy Baker, 37, from Didcot, has been part of the Oxford Head Injury Services community for many years. Born with a brain injury, he later sustained a further traumatic head injury in a childhood playground accident.
Those experiences inspired his long-running fundraising efforts, which began when he was just 14 and continue more than two decades later.
Play2Give contributed more than £5,000 towards the creation of the sensory room. Over the past decade alone, Andy has raised more than £33,000 for Oxford Head Injury Services, and more than £600,000 overall for local healthcare causes. In recognition of his services to charity, he was awarded an MBE in 2021.
Matilda Badham, Marketing and Communications Manager at Oxford Head Injury Services, said: “Andy’s dedication, compassion and unwavering commitment to making a difference to others, particularly through organisations that have supported him on his own recovery journey is inspiring.”
She added: “A sensory room is an important addition to our Activity and Rehabilitation Centre and strengthens our commitment to holistic rehabilitation and recovery.”
Andy said: “To raise so much money for a place so close to my heart is really special… opening this room named after me is one of the proudest moments, and one of the many greatest achievements in Play2Give’s history books.”
