History

Milton Keynes Museum will be transporting visitors to the days of traditional fairground fun with the return of its popular Organ Festival this October. Sammy Jones ‘tuned up’ on the history of these enchanting machines. Organs were the very essence of the fairground back when a visit from the travelling fair was a treat to be enjoyed by the whole community. The music making machines are still a thrill for those who remember the charming machines from their youth, and today they are still finding new receptive audiences. Visitors to the annual Organ Festival will be able to hear the historic machines playing just as they used to while youngsters would have soaked up all the fun of the fair with its toffee apples, hoopla and thrilling rides. These mechanical players have quite the following, and Calvin Battersby, current organiser of the festival, is one of them. These days, we..

Step right up! Milton Keynes Museum is set to whisk you away to the joyful days of fairground fun with the return of its beloved Organ Festival this October. Back in the day, fairgrounds were a feast for the senses—the smell of toffee apples, the excitement of hoopla stalls, the whirl of thrilling rides—and right at the heart of it all was the unmistakable sound of the fairground organ. These mechanical marvels provided the lively soundtrack that made those magical moments even more unforgettable. And now, you can relive that enchantment. On the weekend of October 12th and 13th, the Museum will come alive with the melodic tunes of these historic organs, from the tiny tinkling of music boxes to the grand showstoppers that once took centre stage. It’s going to be a ‘sound-sational’ weekend, packed with nostalgia and charm. “There’s something undeniably magical about the sound of a fairground..

Milton Keynes Museum invites you to share in all of the sights, sounds and sirens from one of our most challenging and defining decades this September, with the return of its popular 1940s weekend. Pack up your kit bag, and bring your family and friends together to enjoy a truly exceptional step back in time to the era dominated by World War II. Displays and re-enactors present all weekend will include The Oxfordshire Home Guard, which preserves and promotes the memory of those who volunteered to defend our shores during the conflict. They will be dressed up and ready to answer your questions, along with the Hertfordshire Home Guard. The RAF Bomber Command, GI 44-45, and the women of the American Red Cross will be colouring up the event, too. The Resistance worked across the channel, helping pilots and spies to escape the enemy – pay them a visit to..

In the second part of our coverage of the Bury Common dig, Pulse's Sammy Jones talks to the archaeologists responsible for revealing Newport Pagnell's forgotten history... Anna Wolf was the lead archaeologist for the exploration. Munich-based, she works for the Milton Keynes arm of Cotswold Archaeology, but flew in specifically to head up this dig, which gleaned some nice finds. “In terms of results it has been really positive, we have confirmed that the Civil War defences do match the historic mapping and are basically what you’d expect – nice big ditch, we’ve got a bit of a rampart, and a track road behind it connecting the bastions, so that has been really nice just to get into that - especially getting access to Trench 1. It is part of the scheduled monument, so to be able to get in there took a long time and discussions with Historic England..

This year’s Heritage Open Days events from The Parks Trust are set to uncover the routes, networks, and connections that weave through Milton Keynes’ scenic parklands. In September, residents are invited to explore some of the art, history, and nature found across the city’s 6,000 acres of green spaces. Julie Dawes, Events & Community Engagement Manager at The Parks Trust says “Our amazing network of parks, connected by green routes and redways, are the perfect fit for this year’s theme (routes, networks and connections)! So, this year’s events are all about getting to know the city’s green spaces - learning about their connection with communities discovering their past and imagining their future.” Booking is essential for this event series, free tickets are available from 9am, Thursday 8th August on theparkstrust.com/events Wonderful Willen through a sociological lens 6 September, 10am at the Tree Cathedral Setting off from the Tree Cathedral, this..

Years of hard work finally came to fruition when some carefully chosen sites at Newport Pagnell's Bury Common recently became the focus of an archaeological dig. It caused plenty of excitement in the town, and in turn might just have helped to inspire the next generation of history lovers to connect with the past. Few people were as thrilled that the dig had become a reality than Andrew Craddock, Chairman of the Commoners Association. Sammy Jones spoke with him. It is an idyllic, tranquil spot and one that could easily be missed by visitors to the hustle and bustle of the town for the first time. And yet Bury Common is not insignificant – occupying more than 180 acres of beautiful green space, which is home to many species of bird and plant life. The Common has been attached to the town for more than 1000 years, during which time..

A free exhibition entitled ‘Lines of Imagination’, inspired by the landmarks, built environment and architecture of Milton Keynes and beyond, will be held at Westbury Arts Centre 7 to 15 September 2024, as part of the Heritage Open Days festival. This is the first solo exhibition of artist, Farina Noorani, who has a studio at Westbury Arts Centre, and it is the first time that these works, which were specially created for this exhibition, have been displayed. The works draw on Farina’s passions for art, architecture and photography. She says of her exhibition: “My aim was to show as many different architectural landmarks of Milton Keynes as possible. "The more I looked around, the more I realized how rich Milton Keynes is architecturally and historically. Although it is famous for its grids and roundabouts, Milton Keynes has a very rich historic legacy. Before construction began, every area was subject to..

In the early 1900s, education in Newport Pagnell was courtesy of The National School, and there were three catering for local youngsters, who would put a penny in a pot in return for their schooling. But a new, purpose built educational facility brought about a new era in learning in the town. Sammy Jones learned more... When it opened its doors to its first pupils, Newport Pagnell's Cedars School was known as Board Schools. They were built in 1896, at a cost of £10,768, a substantial amount of money back in the reign of Queen Victoria, of course, and they were designed to cater for a very specific 926 pupils. When the official opening was held on November 10, 1896, attendees included the Rev C. M Ottley, chairman of the first School Board in the town, E M Kenney Herbert Esq, Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools, Councillor Wilmer and Messrs..

Organisers of Classic Stony are gearing up for their biggest ever event to mark its 15th birthday. Sammy Jones belted up and discovered more about the journey so far... Classic car fans will be driven crazy with 100s of examples parked up for inspection at the event which unites the community and makes for a fabulous, free day out. Described as ‘a festival of all things motoring,’ Classic Stony will get everyone revved up on June 2, consuming the whole of the picturesque old town with some wheelie terrific cars and bikes. “It is a relaxed, informal free day out for the family and car and bike fans, run by enthusiasts for enthusiasts,” said event spokesman Adrian Cole, “There is always something quirky and interesting to see – from a Henry Ford Model T from the roaring 20s to a time travelling replica of the DeLorean car from Back to..

The club celebrating decades of magic mow-ments On this month's history pages, Keith Wootton speaks to Sammy Jones about the attraction of the humble grass cutter.... It's the club that really is a cut above the rest; The Old Lawnmower Club is all about the collection, preservation and display of old mowers. This month at Milton Keynes Museum the annual Lawnmower Festival will see fans of the machinery assemble to inspect the many different lawnmowers housed on site, and to show off their own collections. This year, a light will be shone on more unusual mowers too; and with almost 200 years of lawn mower development there have naturally been some odd designs that never quite caught on – quirky, unusual and impractical choices will also be shown. “Before I became a regular volunteer at the museum, volunteers Neil Loudon and Arthur Finbow had acquired and restored a fairly extensive..

The return of the MK Museum History Festival this May promises to be a colourful, lively, engaging weekend, walking you through the past and letting you get closer to our ancestors who were living, working, fighting and playing during key periods in this area's history. Milton Keynes Museum takes history off the page and brings it to life at this fascinating, family-friendly event. Want to understand more about military and civilian life for the native iron age tribes of Britain and the Roman Empire? The Vicus Romans can help with that. Roman traders will be selling their wares too. And you can pay by the most modern of means! Meet the Chanz des Reis, who will take you back to civilian, military and religious life in the High Medieval age – from the reign of King William the Conqueror to King Henry III. English Civil War re-enactment group Lord Robartes Regiment..

It's bonkers to think that where we work, rest and play was once at the lowest point of a primeval sea, isn't it? Where the V and H roads now allow us to move with ease (at least for most of the time) was once part of a warm ocean, home to marine reptiles including Ichthyosaurs. Sammy Jones finds out more about the new city's very old monster... Similar to porpoises in appearance, Ichthyosaurs lived in the waters that covered much of continental Europe during the early Jurassic period around 160 million years ago. While dinosaurs were on the land, Ichthyosaurs were preying on octopus, cuttlefish and squid in the water, travelling at speeds of up to 25 miles an hour in the quest for food. They are believed to have been highly skilled movers and hunters. Eventually though, these marine reptiles were driven to extinction by climate change. This..

Those settlers new to the city might not have heard his name before, but they will know Bill Billings' work. It's scattered all over the expanse of Milton Keynes, raising smiles, still triggering conversations and reminding us of the important role art has to play in everyday life. Because, simply, art matters and no-one understood that better than Bill. In this month's Museum feature, Sammy Jones looks back at the man and his incredible legacy... It is his work that provided Milton Keynes with some of its more fun, unique and off the wall pieces of public art. Those same words are perfect to sum up the creator behind wild and wonderful works like the Peartree Bridge Triceratops, which is part of our new city’s fabric, but still thrills visitors as they drive by it on the V8. Bill was a passionate advocate of the new town and spent decades..

‘Bring out your dead’ was the chilling call Sammy Jones takes a look at the dark days of the plague and how it struck hard in this area... The Covid pandemic was traumatic, divisive and incredibly difficult to navigate, and that was despite all of the modern day tools at our disposal, and the supposed ease of information dissemination. But with no quick means of sharing information, no real understanding of how it was spread, and a one in three prognosis of death, the plagues which devastated communities centuries ago would have been utterly terrifying. Being bled with leeches was a common treatment, but certainly didn’t help symptoms, and while children were encouraged to smoke to keep the sickness at bay, as we now know, that only creates its own issues. 1666 wasn't only a stand-out year in the history books for the Great Fire of London. It was also..

This month we take a look at one of the new city's biggest successes – a firm that is reaching dizzying heights in every sense of the word, and a business that has left its mark here at the Museum. We discovered more about the Niftylift story from its chairman and founder, Roger Bowden. Niftylift is one of Europe’s largest mobile elevating work platform (MEWP) manufacturers and while the business is anchored in these parts, it operates worldwide. “We specialise in compact, low-weight articulating booms that offer maximum performance with minimal environmental impact,” Roger says, explaining his business in relatively simple terms. The name ‘Nifty’ has synonyms including ‘particularly good, skilful, or effective” and ‘attractive and stylish’ – which all perfectly sum up what Roger wants to achieve with every lift the company designs: “Combining the two names seemed the perfect solution,” Roger recalled. 2013 Queens..