Local News

Shoppers at intu Milton Keynes will be ‘well chuffed’ to learn that the hugely popular Christmas Express train will be staying in the shopping centre, until at least the summer.  Launched at the start of the festive period, the little locomotive has taken over 4,000 children and parents around intu Milton Keynes on a magical journey down the boulevard, past the ‘frog clock’, around Oak Court and back again. Now, due to popular demand, the centre management are delighted to announce that the train, now called the intu MK Express’ will continue offering its service until at least the summer.  Kirsty McGiff, marketing manager at intu Milton Keynes said: “This was the first year we introduced the train and the response has been phenomenal, even the video on social media has had nearly half a million views.  We’re delighted to be able to continue running this great service for our..

The founder of The Bus Shelter MK, Tom Davis, was given a cheque for £4,000 last week by intu’s chairman, John Strachan and Alexander Nicoll, corporate responsibility director.  Each year, all 14 intu shopping centres across the UK are invited to enter a charitable community initiative they have supported during the year, for the chance to win the ‘chairman’s prize’, with a top prize of £4,000. intu Milton Keynes entered The Bus Shelter MK, which the centre launched and helped by raising close to £60,000 to date. Everyone at intu Milton Keynes and The Bus Shelter MK were delighted to hear that their partnership had won the top prize.  John Strachan said, “All the entries this year were top class but the intu Milton Keynes submission about their partnership with Tom Davis and The Bus Shelter MK was the standout winner. Alexander Nicoll and I were very impressed by what..

Willen Hospice received a Christmas boost this week when local volunteer fundraising group, The Friends of Willen Hospice, awarded the charity a cheque for £20K. The generous donation, which takes the total they have raised for the Hospice this year to £45K, was presented at their annual general meeting. Friends of Willen Hospice is a 10-strong committee, with several volunteers who are dedicated to fundraising for the Hospice throughout the year. They do so in various ways including selling raffle tickets, holding tombolas, social events, and attending local fetes and fairs. Liz Sparham, Chair of Friends of Willen Hospice, said: “We were delighted to be able to make this donation. Willen Hospice is a charity close to all our hearts, which is why we work so hard all year round to do what we can to raise money to enable the excellent support and care they provide to continue. “We..

Lakeview Lodge Care Home in Newton Leys recently celebrated some success, as Chef Managers Ian Powell & Colette Hawkins swooped three awards in a national cooking competition, organized internally by Country Court Care. The competition was called Meal Showreel and aimed to showcase some of the wonderful food cooked for residents residing within a Country Court Care Home, Lakeview Lodge Care Home in Newton Leys being one of them. To enter the competition was simple, Chef Managers had to take photos of their food and submit them to Country Court Care. Chef Managers had a choice between three categories for submission; main, dessert and texture modified. The entries were then sorted into the three categories and judged by a panel of Alykhan Kachra, Managing Director of Country Court Care and Anwar Kajee, Catering Operations Manager. There were some fantastic prizes to be won, Ian & Colette winning two golds and..

The Parks Trust, the self-financing charity that manages and maintains over 6,000 acres of green space across Milton Keynes, is getting ready for one of the highlights of the city’s festive calendar – the annual Christmas carols celebration. This year, Carols will be held at the MK Rose, located in Campbell Park. The event starts at 3pm on Sunday 17th December 2017. Bedfordshire singer Louise Sian will open the show and the carol singing will be accompanied by MK Youth Brass from Community Learning MK: Music Faculty. All are welcome to the Carols at MK Rose event, which is free to attend. Willen Hospice will be selling refreshments and running a raffle, with all proceeds going to the hospice. Julie Dawes, Events & Community Engagement Manager at The Parks Trust said: “We can’t wait for our carols event – it’s a hugely popular Milton Keynes tradition and it wouldn’t feel..

A campaign celebrating the stories of the OU's diverse student community has won two national social media awards.  The #Iwas campaign was announced as winner of the Best User-Generated Content category in the The Drum’s Social Buzz Awards and in October the campaign won Best Audience Engagement Campaign category at the UK Social Media Communications Awards. The campaign drew on the experience of the OU’s broad depth of students and alumni who took to social media to demonstrate the value of flexible distance learning and the role it can play in addressing the UK skills through the voices of its student and alumni community. Photographs and stories flooded Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to spread the message of the #Iwas campaign - that embarking on Higher Education study is not just for 18 to 21-year-olds. The campaign produced hundreds of accounts of how OU study had realised dreams, changed personal perceptions and had actively..

Cotels, a leading provider of serviced apartments in Milton Keynes, Northampton and Luton, has officially launched its brand new serviced apartment concept, 7Zero1, at 701 South Fifth Street in Milton Keynes. Marcia Gomez, Managing Director of Cotels said: “We’re incredibly excited to have launched this new flagship venture, showcasing the best of Cotels with our fresh branding, stellar customer service and unique serviced apartment offering.” “Led by feedback from our existing guests, we have created 7Zero1 with a strong focus on wellbeing and fitness. This trend is as prominent as ever, particularly amongst business guests looking to combat the negative health effects that frequent traveling can incur. “At 7Zero1 we’ve taken fitness a step further than most, kitting out each apartment with equipment such as a Ninja Blender, yoga mat, hand weights and a swiss ball. Of course, you don’t have to be a fitness fanatic to stay at 7Zero1..

Eight young people took over four of the top jobs in Milton Keynes for Takeover Day on Friday 17 November. Each young person was the winner of the council’s Takeover Day competition and this year they spent the day as either the Mayor of Milton Keynes - Cllr David Hopkins, Local Police Commander - Superintendent Yvette Hitch, MK Council’s Corporate Director for People - Michael Bracey, or MP for Milton Keynes South - Iain Stewart. The Takeover Challenge is a national event led by the Children's Commissioner for England and offers children and young people the chance to work with some of the most important decision-makers in their area. Jasmine Robinson and Matthew Farrow spent the day with Corporate Director of People, Michael Bracey. The group spent the morning at the MK Safeguarding Board Conference and later joined the five year anniversary celebration of Flowers House, a council sheltered housing scheme. Georgia Gray..

Lakeview Lodge Care Home has teamed up with the Community Christmas campaign to offer Christmas lunch to elderly people from the local community of Bletchley, who would otherwise be on their own on Christmas Day. “This will be a great opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new friends, creating bonds in the community that will last well beyond the single day. We are delighted to be involved with the scheme, I’d hate to think that someone living just a few doors away from us would be alone on Christmas Day” Said Home Manager Cheryl Rolt. Community Christmas are a charity who believe that no elderly person in the UK should be alone on Christmas Day. There are currently estimated to be between 250,000 and 500,000 older people who spend Christmas Day on their own. The Community Christmas website provides a listing of community events, care home and..

Willen Hospice’s new chief executive Peta Wilkinson is throwing her support behind this year’s Santa Dash, the charity’s annual festive fundraiser. The popular event starts from outside the Hospice on Sunday 17th December at 10.30am and will see hundreds of people dressed as Father Christmas lap 1.2 miles of Willen Lake North in support of Willen Hospice. Peta said “I love that the whole family can join in this event. This will be my first Santa Dash so I’m really looking forward to seeing hundreds of Santa’s gathering at Willen Lake to run, jog or stroll together, all with the same aim; to help us raise vital funds to provide our care to the local community. I hope as many families as possible will join us for a fun filled morning.” Organisers are also encouraging those taking part to take on some additional creative ideas to help boost their fundraising...

Shoppers are being invited to help support homeless people in Milton Keynes this Christmas. Back for a second year, the intu Milton Keynes Giving Tree will return to the centre from Friday 1 December to help bring help to the homeless this Christmas. After a successful first year in 2016 with the Milton Keynes Hospital Charity, this year, the centre is supporting several local charities who offer support to the homeless people of Milton Keynes. With a record number of homeless people and families in Milton Keynes, the charities who will be supported by the Giving Tree this year include The Bus Shelter MK, Open Door, Winter Nights Shelter MK and Help our Homeless MK. All four organisations are dedicated to helping fight the need to sleep rough in Milton Keynes and each do this by offering services such as overnight shelter, hot meals and guidance. Pam Williams from The..

Xscape MK is spreading the festive cheer far and wide this year as Santa will arrive in his grotto on Saturday 9th December and you can visit him for FREE right up until Christmas Eve.  The big man will be in his grotto, located in the main mall, every day between 11am and 5pm ready to discover what children want for Christmas and to give out presents. Families can visit for FREE with online booking* opening mid/late November.  However, Xscape will be collecting for their partner charity Barnardos, so maybe bring some spare change! Limited walk-up slots will also be available on a day-by-day basis but it is advisable to book in advance, if possible.  Look out for their red throne photo opportunity on the main mall where you can discover if you’ve been ‘naughty or nice’, and Xscape can help out with those last-minute present buying dilemmas, their gift..

Action4Youth, an energetic youth charity that provides positive, often transformational experiences and activities, works to enable young people of all abilities and disabilities to learn to challenge themselves - learning what they can achieve rather than what they can’t.  Confidence, self-belief, and people skills are not traits that come naturally to young people with learning disabilities and Special Educational Needs (SEN), so it’s easy to see how they can become self-conscious, isolated and afraid to try new things. One youth charity is working with SEN students, taking them out of their comfort zone and opening their eyes to the possibilities and opportunities that life has to offer.  Jack Mitchell is 16 and has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with autistic traits, which means that whilst he’s very sociable, Jack struggles to interact appropriately. Growing up, Jack always found it difficult to fit in at school and has never established a group of friends.  Jack’s Mum,..

This year’s City Centre Christmas Light Switch On will be on Saturday 18th November and promises to be the most spectacular that Milton Keynes has ever seen.  The free event will take place at the front of intu Milton Keynes from 3:30pm with the switch on happening at approx 4.50pm. Heart FM will be hosting the stage in the build up to the big countdown with live entertainment, competition choirs and the traditional Salvation Army band.  We’re promised Father Christmas will make a quick stop in MK from his busy pre-Christmas schedule to do the honours along with the Mayor of Milton Keynes and Heart FM competition winners. A big screen will show the huge parcel being lit up in Station Square, three giant Kings lit on the roof of Christ the Cornerstone Church as well as the parcels and trees along Midsummer Boulevard bursting into festive life.  After the..

The Parks Trust is saddened to report that a sheep has been killed in a brutal and deliberate knife attack. The attack is believed to have taken place during the afternoon or night-time of Sunday 5th November 2017. An independent vet has examined the sheep’s remains and confirmed that the death was caused by a human rather than another animal. The vet also believes the attack was carried out using a knife. The sheep was found in Ouzel Valley Park, Woughton on the Green, on land belonging to The Parks Trust, the self-financing charity that manages and maintains over 6,000 acres of green space across Milton Keynes. Rob Riekie, Landscape and Operations Director for The Parks Trust, commented: “We are all devastated by this malicious, disturbing attack on one of our sheep. The remains were discovered by a member of the public which was incredibly distressing for them, and for..