DISABLED teenagers from across the county have got a brand new facility designed just for them.

The Thomley Activity Centre spent more then £250,000 to refurbish a manor house and create a state-of-the-art youth centre.

Among other things, it has games consoles, table football and tennis, a mini-gym, a hobbies and vocational skills room, kitchen, changing rooms and toilets.

More than 70 disabled teenagers and their families, who regularly use the activity centre, gathered on Wednesday to watch Barnaby Beck, 15, of Bicester, cut the ribbon to officially open the facility.

Barnaby, who has Downs Syndrome, said: “It will be really great to meet new friends of my own age and spend more time with them playing games and having fun.”

His father Chris Beck said: “It’s great for him in this transition in his life into a young man.

“Thomley is not just about young people with special needs, its for the whole family and therefore siblings. He meets young people with and without disabilities, making it an all-inclusive experience.”

The centre has become a lifeline to 3,700 children from 975 families who travel from 22 different counties.

Gail Hanrahan, whose son Guy Hanrahan-Barnes, 21, has learning disabilities and has used the Thomley centre at Menmarsh Road, Worminghall, for the past 10 years, welcomed the facility.

She said: “It’s a real lifeline to have somewhere to go where he’s safe and having fun.

“As he got older it was harder and harder to find a place he could go to, given the level of activity he liked.”

Mother-of-three Mrs Hanrahan, of Chalgrove, who runs Oxfordshire Family Support Network, said: “I could have cried, it’s so lovely and they’ve got fantastic resources to play and learn life skills.”

The facility has been funded by grants from organisations and charitable trusts including Oxfordshire County and South Oxfordshire District Council.