We have now reached the halfway stage in our efforts to fund raise for a brand new Sensory vehicle. This is to replace the old leyland bus that went off the road in the summer last year.

The total so far stands at £68,800.00. This includes money raised through grants and trusts and a lot of fundraising by the staff. It also includes pledges from organisations but this money depends on us raising the rest of the money. We are now applying for match funding and sponsorships. If you know of any organisations that might be interested in supporting this project please contact us at oxonplaybus@aol.com .

This new vehicle is to enable us to help children with disabilities lead a better life. If you feel you can donate some money, for the new bus, please do!

All we need is 68,000 people to give us a £1!

Here is the new Sensory/Soft Play Lorry we have built. Trudy can now continue her work with children . This is not a replacement for our sensory service its just a temporary solution while we fundraise for a brand new purpose built sensory vehicle.

The Sensory Bus has now been taken off the road as the repairs are going to be to much!

We are now fundraising for a new vehicle. We need £300,000.00 to buy a new vehicle, have it converted and to run the service for three years. We have raised over £11,000.00 over a short period. with your help we could raise a lot more.

If you feel you can help please contact us at oxonplaybus@aol.com so we can get this great service back on the road.

The Sensory Bus was conceived out of a perceived need for a sensory environment for people:-

Whose access to sensory rooms, and, indeed, any support of this nature, was limited by travel difficulties and/or rural isolation.

It caters for people of all ages with Alzheimer’s Disease,

Children excluded from mainstream school because of emotional and behavioural difficulties,

Disabled children in mainstream schools

Pre-school children whose access to such services is otherwise extremely limited.

For some clients it can be a terrifying experience travelling to the alien environment of a hospital or centre to use their Sensory room. The experience can be equally stressful for the carer.

Because it is mobile, and is fully accessible to wheelchair users, the bus can reach people other sensory schemes cannot.

The bus was fitted out with sensory equipment by the Sensory Company. It has two rooms, a white room and a dark room. The white room contains such attractions as a fibre-optic ceiling, bubble tubes and a DST scanner. These can be operated by touch-switches.

The dark room has two UV lights, a starry ceiling and vibrating beanbag. It has to be experienced to be believed!

The bus will visit special schools, daycare centres and individual homes by arrangement, operating weekly with the client and carer for a period of Twelve weeks. After this time the Playbus can provide support with a Special Needs Toy Library and advice on specialist equipment. As with all our community activities, this service is completely free of charge.

If you would like further information, please contact Trudy. You can find her contact details here.