Showing Things to Do in all locations
05th Feb 2025
Thousands of new trees and plants for MK’s parks
More than 12,500 plants have arrived in Milton Keynes, ready to be planted in the city’s parks. Last week, The Parks Trust received this year’s mammoth delivery - which arrived in 12 separate loads – made up of over 100 different species ranging from small Lonicera Pileata (Honeysuckle) to young giant redwoods. These new trees and shrubs will help develop Milton Keynes' landscape as part of the charity's long-term green space management, including trees that have been removed as part of tree thinning works. The stock of new plants is temporarily stored in 10 trenches, measuring 50 metres in length! Look out for the team in the coming weeks and months, who will be busy planting in areas throughout the city including the Poplar Plantation between Willen Lake and the Ouzel Valley. Direct Works Manager at The Parks Trust, Justin Hobday, says “this is my first delivery season since joining..
Read More
31st Jan 2025
Get set for serious playtime at Milton Keynes Museum this half term February 17-21, 2025
Half term will soon be upon us – a chance for children to down their pens and pencils and set about having some serious fun, and they will find no better place to do so than at Milton Keynes Museum. Activities celebrating the recently opened Ancient Gallery will run all week, with a 'Through The Ages' theme giving youngsters the opportunity to get hands-on with dinosaur bones and stone tools, and real and replica pottery from different time periods. Check in with the Museum re-enactor who will give chainmail and leather working demonstrations, and forget computer games – instead take part in some medieval games! Turn detective and have a go at the history detectives trail running throughout the Museum, and on Tuesday and Wednesday enjoy pottery demos and the chance to create your own. Then, when hunger bites, roar-some Dino themed cookies will be waiting to be decorated. Half term week at the Museum boasts something for everyone, with all the usual..
Read More
23rd Jan 2025
Remembering music royalty John Dankworth
February 6th marks the 15th anniversary since the music world mourned the loss of Sir John Dankworth. Pulse Music editor Sammy Jones remembers a unique man with a talent to match... John came from a musical family, but at odds with them, he favoured jazz, not classical. “That horrified them – it was like being interested in heavy metal in those days, your parents wouldn't exactly welcome it,” he told me. Focusing his attention on the clarinet, not even being called to serve in the army hindered his playing – he simply joined the army band. With service behind him, he auditioned for a ship about to sail to America, which needed its own band. A young Ronnie Scott auditioned with him, and they both got the job. “I had never been abroad in my life and all of a sudden I found myself in this mad Broadway atmosphere with..
Read More
23rd Jan 2025
Madball ready to strike in the new city
When Finnish country types, Steve‘n’Seagulls (Feb 8) covered AC/DCs Thunderstruck they really captured imaginations. In the decade it has been on YouTube, it has racked up a whopping 179 million views, and with good reason – it’s immense. Go take a peek yourself. For all the novelty factor at play here, at the heart of the operation is a band of players who pack all of the punches. Bluegrass brilliance coming to The Craufurd Arms on February 8. Almost two years since they last played the venue – as support to fellow NYC bruisers Life of Agony – Madball will return on February 3. The hardcore aces have had a fair few players pass through the ranks since first making our acquaintance with their debut Set it Off some three decades ago, but you’ll still meet the gaze of frontman Freddy Cricien, and they’ve amassed a tidy catalogue from which..
Read More
23rd Jan 2025
Live music in MK this February
'I'll be a tribute to myself if it pays more!' Rock stalwarts Stray make their Craufurd Arms return later this month. It’s early in the year, but frontman Del Bromham promises that 2025 will deliver ‘much of the same’ for the quintet – which means plenty more stage action. “We already have some festival appearances in the UK and Europe booked for over the summer... the Stray never ending tour continues!” Del told Pulse’s Sammy Jones. The Milton Keynes-based players are also hopeful they’ll be able to swell fans’ collections with the filmed release of their last date at The Stables, played back in November. “The venue was ideal for us to feature a couple of semi acoustic songs, so it was a slightly different show than the ones that we usually deliver.” With a stellar body of work tucked under their collective belt, there is no shortage of material..
Read More
23rd Jan 2025
History with the nasty bits left in…...
Murderous royals, deadly train rides and things that go bump in the night. Dark, but delicious, days are ahead in theatre-land this month. Sammy Jones has the details... We start with a little reminder that amateur theatre group Drama Llamas continue with performances of Splendour (Jan 31-Feb 2) at Stony Stratford’s York House – pick up last month’s edition for more details on the work by Abi Morgan. Now, if you want to get kids into history, you need to make it engaging and bring it alive – warts and all. Horrible Histories is the show that delivers all the guts and grit about our famous ancestors, and the team is back in play at MK Theatre (Feb 6-9), digging into the Terrible Tudors. You’ll learn about the horrible Henries and the end of evil Elizabeth, and hear the legends (and the lies) about the torturing Tudors. What about Henry’s..
Read More
23rd Jan 2025
New bug homes arrive in city park
If you go down to the woods today, you… may see some unusual trees? There’s a new addition of deadwood poles, installed to create vital habitat for bugs, birds and other wildlife. Over the last few years, The Parks Trust with support from local school children, volunteers, and community groups including Community Trees MK, have been planting thousands of new trees to form a woodland meadow in Middleton – a great addition to the city’s landscape, but fresh new woodlands offer limited deadwood habitat. To combat the shortage of older sizeable trees, the charity caring for MK’s parks have introduced standing deadwood poles - known as ‘snags’. These additions create invaluable habitat, with flaking bark and decaying heartwood that are used by many species of invertebrate. Deadwood is known to support up to 1 in 5 woodland species, who depend on dead or dying wood to complete their life cycles...
Read More
23rd Jan 2025
Scream-a-long a theatre with Ghost Stories
There will be a chill in the air this month that, for a change, won’t have anything to do with the temperatures outside! Ghost Stories, the supernatural stage scarefest co-creation of Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson arrives at Milton Keynes Theatre on Tuesday, February 18 for a five-day stay. It’s not completely new – having premiered 14 years ago, before making it onto the screen in the film version starring Martin Freeman and Paul Whitehouse. And yet the secrets that have led to its success remain closely guarded, by creators and audiences alike. “Secrets are precious,” Andy explained, “If you give people a secret that they really enjoy and you ask them nicely to keep it, they do.” Andy is a chap who knows only too well the power of keeping lips buttoned – before Ghost Stories, he was the man behind many of Derren Brown’s mystery-filled stage shows and..
Read More
22nd Jan 2025
The secret life of snowdrops
Nature’s frosted miracle Picture this: a frosty wiThe Thnter morning, the ground is still hard, and most plants are hibernating under blankets of soil. But there they are – snowdrops (or Galanthus, if you fancy sounding like a botanist), nodding their dainty white heads as if winter’s chill is no big deal. These early bloomers are nature’s quiet rebels, thriving when most other plants wouldn’t dare poke their heads out. But how do they do it? Let’s start with timing. Snowdrops bloom in late winter to early spring, often pushing their way through snow and ice. Their secret? They’ve adapted to beat the competition. By flowering before other plants wake up, they avoid the mad scramble for pollinators. Clever, right? And while it seems like no bees or insects would be out braving the cold, snowdrops have another ace up their sleeve. On the occasional mild day, an early bumblebee..
Read More
21st Jan 2025
New trail explores the legacy of Campbell Park
To celebrate more than 40 years of Campbell Park, The Parks Trust in partnership with Living Archive have created a new trail for visitors to discover more about the city’s central park. Supported by funding from MK City Council and MK Community Foundation, the trail includes special interviews – to watch, listen to, and read - with some of the people behind the design of Campbell Park and those who care for the park today. There’s also historic plans and drawings from the archives that show the incredible vision of the organisation that created MK - Milton Keynes Development Corporation. For example, did you know that a “water carpet” was planned for the park? And, that they had hoped to build a national sculpture park here, with sculptures by Henry Moore? Aimed at adults and older children, the interactive trail can be started from anywhere in the park – just..
Read More
21st Jan 2025
Willen Hospice Midnight Moo: Early bird bookings open for Milton Keynes’ biggest night-time...
Willen Hospice has opened online bookings for its biggest fundraiser of the year – The Willen Hospice Midnight Moo walk, sponsored by Specsavers MK. Thanks to more and more people taking part each year, the 2025 event will start from its new location at Middleton Hall in Centre:MK and earlier in the summer than usual, on Friday 20 June. With more space, the event promises to be bigger and better than ever. Midnight Moo-ers will be welcome to arrive as early as 8.30pm to soak up the highly anticipated atmoo-sphere, with extra entertainment. Last year more than 1,200 people joined the herd. The skies of MK lit up, with Midnight Moo-ers dressed in flashing accessories and cow-ear headbands, complementing their cow-print Midnight Moo t-shirts. The event was a huge success, raising over £130,000 for the Hospice. Lead walker and Hospice Matron, Amy Malburn, said: “We’re absolutely dependent on people taking..
Read More
15th Jan 2025
What’s on at the theatre this January
See in the new year with Cuba, crooners and comedy Forget the post-Crimbo lull, January in theatre-land is poised to deliver plenty, as Sammy Jones discovered... If you are keen to hold on to the festive feels that little bit longer, a reminder that Peter Pan continues at Milton Keynes Theatre (until Jan 5) with Craig Revel Horwood leading the cast of class. When the curtain falls on the seasonal show, there are still reasons to be cheerful, starting with the return of Milton Jones, bringing his new show Ha! Milton to town. The king of the one-liner and recipient of not one, but two Sony Awards comes to the new city with his trademark quirky style and lightning-fast wit, on January 10. We have it on good authority that topics will include giraffes, and tomatoes. Miss out this time, and you’ll have to erm, ketchup later. Jimmy Carr and..
Read More
15th Jan 2025
Dear Evan Hansen makes its Milton Keynes debut this January
‘The idea of hope is so important’ Dear Evan Hansen makes its Milton Keynes debut later this month, as part of its much anticipated UK tour. As mentioned across the page, the story centres around high school kid Evan who desperately wants to fit in. When a classmate, Connor Murphy, himself struggling with drug abuse and depression, scrawls his name across the cast on Evan’s broken arm, it is assumed that Connor and Evan must have been close friends when, a short time later Connor takes his own life. It’s a deceit Evan initially goes along with, and as events spiral and the truth comes out, Evan faces a reckoning with himself and everyone around him. West End star Alice Fearn was hooked just as soon as she heard the musical score: “When Dear Evan Hansen started in America, it was one of those productions that released the album before..
Read More
14th Jan 2025
Cafe Mambo Ibiza to return to Bedford this summer
Live Nation and Cuffe & Taylor are pleased to announce the return of Bedford favourites, Café Mambo Ibiza, as headliners for TK Maxx Presents Bedford Summer Sessions on Friday 11 July 2025. Having delighted Bedford audiences with unforgettable performances in 2019, 2021, and 2022, Café Mambo has cemented their place as a beloved part of the local live music scene. This latest addition previously announced headliners including McFly, Supergrass, The Human League, Simple Minds, and Rag’n’Bone Man. Tickets for the show will go on general sale on Friday, 31 January December at smmrsessions.com / ticketmaster.co.uk. Following celebrated shows in 2019, 2021, and 2022, Café Mambo Ibiza returns to Bedford Park on Friday, 11 July. Formed in 1994 by Javier Anadon, Café Mambo grew from humble beginnings on the coastal rocks of San Antonio into an international phenomenon, becoming a cornerstone of the vibrant ‘90s Ibiza scene. Synonymous with breathtaking sunsets..
Read More
14th Jan 2025
On your marks, get set, go
The women of Olney are under starters orders as they prepare for the historic Olney Pancake Race, which takes place on Shrove Tuesday 4 March 2025. The runners, dressed in a skirt and head scarf and clutching their frying pan and pancake, will be following a great tradition; the race is reputed to have taken place since 1445 and has certainly run every year since 1948, except for 2021. In 1950 the Pancake Race became an international event when the town of Liberal in Kansas, USA issued a challenge to Olney. In a spirit of international goodwill and friendship, the two towns now compete annually, and prizes are exchanged. Ahead of the race itself, there are lots of activities taking place in the Market Place, starting with a special pancake breakfast, prepared by local chef, Ben Francis from The Cherry Tree Pub and Restaurant. With stalls, even more pancakes, music,..
Read More