Local News

Local people are being invited to take advantage of a free Will writing service this May as Willen Hospice Will Month gets underway. Despite the challenges of Covid-19, organisers are delighted that nine legal firms have teamed up to support the charity by writing Wills in return for a donation. The service is available for anyone who would like to update their existing Will or create a new Will. Lisa Kinrade, Legacy Fundraiser at Willen Hospice, said “If writing a Will has been on your to-do list, then here is the perfect opportunity to get it done. Taking care of those close to you will be one of the most important things you’ll do, giving you peace of mind that your wishes will be carried out, if anything happens to you. “We would like to thank the solicitors who are taking part in our Will month, especially as they have..

You can’t get to the local for your pub quiz fix, so Willen Hospice is bringing it to you! Launched live on the charity’s Facebook page last Wednesday, the Midweek Pub Quiz proved so popular with players that it will now return every week during lockdown. The quiz includes entertaining rounds covering something for everyone including general knowledge, music, films and sport. It’s easy to play, simply visit https://bit.ly/2Wa83ih at 7pm on Wednesday. There is no need to register, simply be on the page and wait for it to start. For those who want to play along with team mates in other households, it’s easy to set up a Watch Party, or play via Zoom with one person sharing their screen. Full details of how to do this are on the Hospice website and Facebook event. The quiz is just one of the ways the Hospice is responding to the shortfall..

Energie Fitness gym responds to a call for help from Milton Keynes based NHS staff who are in desperate need of skin care products. With many fund raisers and famous national campaigns to raise funds for NHS charities - like Capt Tom Moore’s walk of 100 lengths of his garden that went viral and raised millions of pounds. It might come as a surprise that here in Milton Keynes we can do something very simple to make a huge difference to the medics on the front line in our area. Rob Francis, owner of Kiln Farm based Energie Fitness Gym explains, “One of our members who is a senior nurse, managing over 100 nurses delivering specialist dialysis care across Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, came to us to see if we could help support her and her team. Debs Grove explained to us that because our front-line nurses and..

The Science and Design Technology departments at Ousedale School have done a fantastic job recently supporting the NHS. As everyone is aware there is currently a real shortage of PPE equipment for the key front line workers. The school co-ordinated a generous donation for Milton Keynes University Hospital, including: 160 pairs of goggles, 11 boxes of gloves, 2 bottles of antibacterial spray and 50 face masks. The hospital was extremely desperate for these items and very grateful to the school for donating them. The school also donated much needed goggles to a number of local doctors' surgeries including Walnut Tree Health Centre, who were all very grateful for the kind contributions. “On behalf of all the staff at Walnut Tree Health Centre we would like to thank you very much for the recent donation of goggles. Such protective equipment allows our staff to safely continue delivering essential health care to..

Local children’s charity Ride High is taking part in The 2.6 Challenge, a new national fundraising campaign that has been created to raise vital funds for charities impacted by the CV-19 crisis. Ride High is asking people to support their cause by doing the ‘Horse Stance’ for one minute every day for six days… or even 26 days! The horse stance is the position you sit in when you ride a horse and it’s quite challenging to hold it without a horse to sit on! It’s great for strengthening your legs and back and the best bit is it can be done absolutely anywhere – at home, in the garden and anyone and everyone can join in. Members of the Ride High team have put together a short video showing what the Horse Stance is and just how much fun it can be. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/MRdy1exGpN8 Due to..

Today, some of the old Wolverton Works site is derelict, its long structure snaking a track through the town, broken, vandalised and ghostlike. Other parts have made way for new housing developments. But without the Works, Wolverton as we know it wouldn’t even exist, writes Sammy Jones. When the Works was established in 1838, beautiful red brick Victorian houses built by the London North Western Railway Company that ran the Works, sprung up to house the working army in the new railway town of Wolverton. Families came from far and wide to take up positions at the important new engineering plant, in the era when rail was revolutionising the world. During World War One the hub was requisitioned for the war effort, and produced 24 ambulance trains (each boasting 16 coaches). Gun timbers, horse harnesses and various supplies were..

Local children’s charity Ride High is asking for donations to help fund essential activity packs for its members during lockdown. Recently named Charity of the Year at the MK Business Achievement Awards, Ride High supports the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children in the community by teaching them to ride and care for horses, and through associated clubroom projects. Due to the CV-19 crisis the charity has had to suspend all its normal activities and is concerned about the impact this will have on its members – many of whom find life very difficult under normal circumstances and rely heavily on their weekly visit to Ride High. In response Ride High has revised its programme so it can maintain close contact with its long term members. The Ride High Programme is now being delivered online with additional support available over the phone, through email and text messages. ‘Ride High by post’..

Although he had dabbled in art for as long as he could remember, Paul Kane didn't feel confident enough to make the leap and turn his passion into a career. He grew up in a mining town in Yorkshire – not the sort of environment where such creativity was nurtured. But he was good and people would routinely ask him for pictures and paintings. He even designed a Top Cat neon sign for an entertainment venue which turned heads; Not that Paul was able to admire his own work though – at the time he was underage and unable to get in to the nightclub! Paul spent years working in the city in IT; first at the House of Commons and then for a banking company. No disrespect to those IT aces among us, but life dealing with data recovery..

Willen Hospice is inviting local people to support them by staying home and staying fit, with their virtual 48 Hour Relay Run, powered by energie Fitness Milton Keynes. The brand new event will raise essential funds for the charity. The 48 hour relay run will start on Friday 17 April at 8am, and finish at the same time on Sunday 19 April. People can run in their garden, up and down the stairs, around the living room or during their one-hour daily exercise. All they have to do is choose a 20, 40, or 60-minute time slot during the 48 hours, and when their time is up they’ll pass the virtual baton on to the next runner. Organisers are asking runners to gather sponsorship to help support the Hospice during this very difficult time. It costs £9 a minute to fund Willen Hospice, so during the 48-hours of this challenge,..

Staff at Country Court’s Lakeview Lodge Care Home in Bletchley, Milton Keynes have received a ‘Care Package’ consisting of over 20 items including food, drink and basic provisions to help with day to day life during the Covid-19 pandemic. The company operates 32 care homes in total with over 2000 staff, all of whom will receive the packages as a thanks for their work caring for the some of the most vulnerable people in society. The packages, which include items such as toilet roll, dried and tinned goods and hand sanitiser, have been arranged courtesy of the Kachra family, owners of the Country Court group, after seeing their staff struggle to the get the provisions they needed. With homes situated as far south as Brighton and as far north as York, it proved a big operation to ensure all staff are looked after. A team of volunteers from the group’s..

As well as supporting the businesses within Milton Keynes Business Improvement District, MyMiltonKeynes has always had the local community at the heart of its many projects and initiatives. So, when the world was hit by an international pandemic, the small central Milton Keynes team was quick to demonstrate “we’re here to help!”  Now, three weeks into lockdown, with all of its staff furloughed, we spoke to Chief Executive, Melanie Beck to find out how MyMiltonKeynes has diversified in order to meet the many needs of the local community. “Since the government announced lockdown, we’ve been in constant communication, as a trusted partner, with Milton Keynes Council, CMK Town Council, Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Milton Keynes Hospital Charity. It quickly became apparent that one of the most valuable services we could provide was support with deliveries, through repurposing our MyMiltonKeynes employee buses, and we’ve been using them..

Looking at creative ways to keep fit at home, Mr Paul Burton-Pye, director of sport at Swanbourne House School, has released a series of videos that use Easter Eggs as part of a home workout. The short videos are available on the school’s social media pages and aim to inspire pupils to exercise in new and different ways whilst at home. The films feature classic exercises such as press ups, squats and ab crunches, but with the added challenge of doing them with an Easter Egg! Mr Burton-Pye said “I wanted to create a work out that was fun, challenging, seasonal and engaging for our pupils to do at home over the Easter break. Easter Eggs in their box make a great prop for working out with and we hope our pupils enjoy the challenge!” Here are the links: https://youtu.be/MCgSfIW_IcA https://twitter.com/swanbournehouse/status/1248162858283794432

Kents Hill Park and Oakgrove schools have distributed over 1800 items of PPE to Burlington Hall care home in Woburn Sands and to the Walnut Tree Health Centre, to help staff protect themselves and others in the fight against coronavirus.  The two schools, which form part of the Kingsbridge Educational Trust, delivered over 1000 pairs of latex gloves, 200 sets of goggles, antibacterial wipes and spray to Burlington Hall and 400 pairs of gloves and 100 googles to the Walnut Tree Health Centre. The items, which would normally be used in Science, Design and Technology and Food Technology lessons, were incredibly well received and staff expressed their gratitude to everyone at the schools.  The Walnut Tree Health Centre intends to distribute further some of the PPE items to other surgeries across Milton Keynes.  Kents Hill Park Headteacher James Pilgrim and Oakgrove Headteacher Ian Tett were proud to be able to..

The team at Willen Hospice is encouraging local people to get baking by taking part in their Great Willen Cake Off. The virtual contest aims to raise vital funds for the charity while people are at home. The Cake Off runs from Thursday 9 April – Monday 20 April, and to get everyone inspired, the charity has teamed up with local author and baking blogger, Alix Carey from My Kitchen Drawer. Alix is known for her colourful bakes and will be creating videos sharing recipes and handy tips, which will be posted on the Willen Hospice Facebook page. All people need to do is visit the Willen Hospice website and register to take part. There are two categories to choose from; Children and Adults (16+), and each baker will need to resist eating their goodies right away so they can snap a photo and send three words describing their bake,..

If your kids are having lessons at home from teachers doing their best to keep education going, there’s a very good chance you might have Sam Watts to thank for it. Sam is a twenty-two year old apprentice at Milton Keynes College working for Cranfield-based tech company, Partnership Education. As with all apprentices, he is learning on the job thanks to the expert know-how of his colleagues in the company which dovetails with the technical training he receives at college. Sam’s job usually entails going into schools to help them make the most of networking and cloud technologies. He’s the Go-To-Guy for when teachers aren’t quite sure how to use their software. Now working from home, he’s been deluged with calls for help, not just from teachers but from parents and students, trying to get to grips with their newly-enforced distance learning. “The take-up has been incredible in the past..