Osney Lock Hydro started operating on 16 May 2015. Investors, volunteers, partners and directors gathered on the evening of Friday 16 May 2025 to mark its 10th birthday. A commemorative bench for David Hammond RIBA, architect and driving force behind the initial project, was officially unveiled. David died in 2023. Founder director and company secretary Ruth Finar has recently left the board and was presented with flowers.

One of the initial aims of the hydro project was to increase public awareness of the contribution community energy can make to achieving net zero. The anniversary gave us an opportunity to raise the profile of the hydro and similar schemes. It received widespread media coverage including a report on BBC South Today, and items on Radio Oxford, BBC News blog, Oxford Mail and Times, West Oxford Community Association newsletter, with further articles still to appear.

Photos by Helen White and Jane Buekett.