DESPITE the downpour in the county on Saturday people turned out in their hundreds to sign a petition to save the county's children's centres ahead of Tuesday's budget vote.

The addition of 600 votes over the weekend from Witney, Abingdon, Chipping Norton, Didcot and Bicester brings the total number of votes to well over a thousand.

The petition is run by campaigners from Save Oxfordshire's Children's Centres and the Labour Party who said they hoped their work would help persuade the council not to make the cuts.

Spokeswoman for Save Oxfordshire's Children's Centres Jill Huish said she would urge people from across the county to sign the petition in order to make a difference.

She said: "This is the chance for you to influence the way your councillor votes and to appeal to them directly.

"By signing this petition you're saying to them 'look, if you don't vote against the cuts to children's centres, I won't vote for you in the next election.'

"At the end of the day, most councillors are interested in being re-elected, so if you show them you're serious about this, they should take your opinion on board."

Ms Huish added that she "doesn't know where she'd be" without the county's children's centres.

She said: "I suffered abuse myself, which is a situation a lot of people are in in the county.

"The services gave me the help I needed and now I'm in a very happy relationship and lead a very happy, stable life.

"What these services across Oxfordshire do is so important and economically - and morally - it would be stupid to close them."

Chris Howells, constituency vice-chairman of the Bicester and Banbury Labour Party, said what the centres do is "vital."

He said: "The children's centres aren't just for troubled kids, they are for absolutely everyone who needs help or somewhere to go.

"And they also help people who are going through domestic abuse or other struggles. They are so important."

The council has proposed closing all 44 of the county’s children’s centres, and its seven early intervention hubs, and replacing them with eight family and resource centres.

There are three different options being considered by council leaders, but all involve a drastic reduction in the children’s centre network, which support families of children under five.

The Brookside and Glory Farm children's centres, an early intervention hub in Launton Road and an adult centre also in Launton Road are expected to be affected in Bicester.