Leisure

Customers and members at Woughton Leisure Centre will soon be able to benefit from a new state of the art gym, following an investment of over £200,000 to upgrade the facilities. Work will begin on upgrading the gym at the start of August and works are expected to be completed by the beginning of September. The investment will see the existing large studio space transformed into a cardio and strength gym with more than 50 pieces of strength and cardiovascular equipment, including built in TV and social media channels. This amazing investment package will not impact the group exercise programme, with customers still able to take part in classes across the three remaining studios, including the immersive indoor cycling studio - THE TRIP™ a fully immersive workout experience that combines a 40-minute multi-peak cycling workout with a journey through digitally created worlds. Not to mention the HIIT studio and holistic..

Milton Keynes Festival of Nature is back!  Now in its 5th year, the festival will be held from Saturday 26th June until Tuesday 7th July 2021 and will see a host of different nature themed events and activities to inspire people to get closer to the natural world.  From Family Nature Walks to an Otter Spotting Workshop at Linford Lakes Nature Reserve there will be plenty to do.  You might become an expert wildlife tracker on our Wildlife Spotting Walk or discover the different tree varieties in the arboretum at Great Linford Manor Park on our Tree ID Walk. Annual Festival of Nature highlight, Nature Day will be held at Howe Park Wood on Saturday 3 July 11am to 4pm.  It is always a fantastic chance to get up close to nature and find out how to help wildlife in your home. Join in with the bug hunting and pond..

Milton Keynes’s premium shopping destination – Midsummer Place – has been back open for two weeks and is already reporting strong footfall and excellent sales, thanks to the return of shoppers. Since retail reopened its doors on 12 April, Midsummer Place, formerly intu Milton Keynes, has seen confidence return and a positive atmosphere within the centre, which has resulted in “significant basket spend,” says Shelley Peppard, General Manager at Midsummer Place. “Our retailers are reporting excellent sales over the past two weeks, which some have compared to a normal Christmas. We have also been impressed with the mood of Milton Keynes, and everyone’s ability and attitude towards the social distancing rules and the wearing of face coverings. People have returned with conviction, a positive attitude and excellent spirits, which we hope continues. It’s been a great comeback,” Shelley adds. New retailers have joined Midsummer Place, with menswear store SD by..

The new name for Milton Keynes’s premium shopping destination has been revealed today as…Midsummer Place. Formerly intu Milton Keynes, Midsummer Place has returned to its legacy name as it starts a new and exciting era that will see it reaffirm its position as the leading fashionable destination of Milton Keynes. With a fresh, vibrant, and bright new look, Midsummer Place changes its name across its social media channels and website today and reveals the first look at the new brand imagery and logo. Using high fashion imagery, inspirational design and impactful messaging, Midsummer Place is making its statement to entice shoppers back to the centre and attract some of the biggest brands in the industry. In the coming weeks, the new uniform will be unveiled and gradually the old branding will be removed to make way for the future of the centre, completed by the installation of the new external..

This April, Xscape Milton Keynes has launched a brand-new competition - Create Your Xscape - to stimulate those creative juices and get your imagination working overtime. They are asking people to create a new logo design which will be featured on their social channels for the rest of 2021! Everyone has missed something or someone during lockdown, and Xscape want everyone, young and old, to show and celebrate all the things they are most looking forward to doing again with friends and family once lockdown is lifted.  To give you some inspiration, Xscape have partnered with local MK artist Hanagh Little, who will be sharing her very own exclusive design ideas on the Xscape social channels over the next few weeks. The winner will win a prize bundle to enjoy post-lockdown including a family jump and climb at Gravity, pre-loaded Funstation cards and a meal at Nando’s – so get..

We have all had to adapt to new ways of living in the past 12 months with school shut-downs, reduced services, travel bans and so on, and that’s not to mention the trauma of being separated from our loved ones, and fear of contracting the disease itself. What we shop for has changed too. Pulse takes a look back at our spending habits over the past extraordinary 12 months… None of us will have forgotten the shameful behaviour exhibited at stores up and down the country a year ago, as people stripped supermarket shelves of staple items. Despite retailers doing their best to reassure us there was plenty to go around, images of selfishness flooded social media as people filled their trolleys with pasta, flour, tinned vegetables and toilet rolls which in turn promoted more panic buying and bigger supply issues. But when things settled into a ‘new normal,’ our..

Kicking off the New Year with a declutter will not only put your home in order, but, especially when done sustainably, can also make you feel happier and more energised too.  The weight of having so much stuff can be tiring, so perhaps it is time to free yourself of some clutter and rather than binning it, share it instead. And, on the other hand, if there’s anything you need, you could do the cost-effective and sustainable thing, and rather than shop for it, source it from your community’s local sharing economy scheme. Increasingly we are seeing more communities creating their own sharing economies and establishing all sorts of innovative ways to distribute goods and services without monetary gain. This is particularly true following the coronavirus pandemic, where communities have pulled together to take care of each other as the need for localism has prevailed where governments have failed, all..

As 2021 dawns, Pulse’s Sammy Jones checked in at Soo Yoga to see how the new business fared during an extraordinary year - and what the future looks like…. T he last time I spoke with Kristina Rihanoff she was buzzing; the Strictly Come Dancing star had just realised her dream of opening the first family wellbeing centre in Northamptonshire, and Soo Yoga was proving quite the magnet for those wanting to improve or maintain their health. Kristina and her partner, former England Rugby star Ben Cohen had poured their collective heart, soul, knowledge and finances into the venture, and the response had been fantastic. She was working crazy hours in her bid to ensure it was a success; often teaching half a dozen classes daily herself. It was early days, but things were going well. And then coronavirus bit. Like businesses everywhere, Soo Yoga had to pull down the..

Stylist Jane Sumner of Image Matters shares her tips about getting your wardrobe in shape Many of us will be making new year resolutions to ensure we are ready for the arrival of spring and the longed-for summer. It could be we want to get back in to shape after making the most of the festive season and adding pounds during the lockdown. An incentive could be a wardrobe ready for the big reveal which meets the demands of both work and leisure. My first tip is to work out what clothes you will need in your wardrobe. This means you can plan in a focused way about what you will keep, throw away and most importantly what you are thinking of buying. In my experience most people buy clothes on impulse just because they ‘like’ them rather than working out how are they going to add value to the..

This year more than ever children caught in the midst of domestic violence has been an issue in the spotlight.  The team at centre:mk wanted to ensure that those children in our community were guaranteed an additional gift this Christmas and teamed up with KidsOut, the only charity working with Women’s Aid to support children living in refuges nationally and locally over the festive season. Thanks to our customers, staff and retailers, 500 Gifts, donated through the Giving Tree at centre:mk, are being distributed to children and teenagers living in refuge, who may not otherwise receive a gift this Christmas.  Having created tags for each child with their age and the gift they would like to receive, Guests removed a tag from the tree, bought the gift named on the tag and returned it to guest services where they have been stored ready for distribution pre Christmas. Over 500 gifts..

A departure from the norm of car reviews this month, and a quick history lesson to start. You see those things that run parallel to the majority of carriageways in Milton Keynes, they’re called Redways. It was the grand plan to make MK a hub of cycling, a little bit of Holland in the heart of the United Kingdom, ideal for leisure and a way for people to travel to work without the use of the car. Fast forward to 2020 and Milton Keynes is invariably the ‘town of the car’. Anywhere you can think of is 10 minutes away by car, even travelling from one side of the town to the other; but walking, even on Redways is just that bit too far, cycling cuts that time in less than half, but seldom few actually cycle. Childs Way and numerous other roads become backed up in traffic from one..

Rutland Cycling are donating £6,000 to FareShare East Midlands which will provide 24,000 meals to the local community. For the month of November Rutland Cycling pledged to donate 50% of all hire revenue across their 14 shops to FareShare East Midlands, part of the UK’s national network of charitable food redistributors, which provides food where needed to children and families.  Karen Archer, CEO, says: “As an essential retailer during the pandemic we have been in a fortunate position to have been able to continue to offer our hire bike service across Central England during the November lockdown.  Being a family-owned business, we felt it was important to support FareShare East Midlands during these challenging times and are delighted to be able to donate £6,000 to the campaign that Marcus Rashford, the Manchester Utd footballer, has brilliantly raised the profile of during 2020.  This will provide 24,000 meals to help make..

Hamleys, the world’s oldest toy shop, launches a pop-up at centre:mk this Christmas  World-renowned Hamleys has opened its first ever bricks and mortar pop-up outlet at centre:mk on Wednesday 2 December   The British toy emporium stocks a range of renowned brands as well as creating an immersive experience for shoppers with expert toy demonstrations  This Christmas, centre:mk, one of the UK’s top 10 shopping centres, promises fun for the entire family with the launch of an exclusive Hamleys pop-up shop, which opened on Wednesday 2 December now lockdown restrictions have eased.  The renowned British toy emporium offers shoppers an immersive toy wonderland, brimming with games, puzzles, and arts and crafts from well-known brands such as LEGO, Barbie and Playmobil, as well as stocking Hamleys’ own exclusive toy collections. Open in centre:mk’s Midsummer Arcade, the pop-up features expert toy demonstrations and exciting in-store appearances from much-loved characters, creating an immersive experience..

Christmas Jumper Day is just weeks away, this year taking place on Friday 11 December. Whether you tend to go for something low-key or unapologetically OTT, we’ve put together a handy guide to help you find your 2020 Christmas jumper at intu Milton Keynes…     Christmas isn’t complete without a bit of glitz and glam! H&M always have a great range of festive fits, and we’re loving this adorable Brussel sprout look. H&M Sequin-Motif Jumper £17.99         New Look know how to nail Christmas – their jumpers never fail to make us smile! There are plenty of colours and prints to choose from. Just don’t look down with this one, or you’ll be hungry! New Look Blue Christmas Pudding Bobble Jumper £22.99       Don’t forget to treat the pets too! This gorgeous doggie jumper from New Look will keep your furry friends warm and..

Local gym offers free memberships to help get people in MK back on track with their health and fitness. With the great news that gyms, fitness facilities and sporting activities may recommence and re open their doors on Wednesday next week, providing some much needed pre Christmas cheer, one gym, energie Fitness based in Kiln Farm, is going one step further to bring a smile to Milton Keynes residents faces……. By offering the opportunity for a FREE membership and FREE access to their club through out December. Owner Rob Francis tells us, “We, like many businesses in the leisure and sports industry, have been very badly hit by this pandemic. I don’t mind sharing that its meant that we have suffered a huge amount of lost revenue and income, whilst we are still charged rents and costs by our land lords. Through out both lock downs our gym has been almost..