Things to Do

Crew members from last year’s exciting event, Age UK Milton Keynes chief executive Jane Palmer, MKFM’s Darren Dorrington, Matthew Edwards from Gable Events and The Zen Garden Restaurant owner Mei Xu attended the launch of the 2017 Milton Keynes Dragon Boat Festival on Friday 27th January 2017. Gable Events brought along a 30 foot wooden dragon boat for would-be paddlers to try out on dry land and relive the excitement of last year’s racing. As well as competing for the champions’ trophy, each dragon boat crew is encouraged to raise funds for Age UK Milton Keynes, the official charity of the event.  The crew that raises the most wins the charity trophy and voucher worth up to £350 towards a celebratory meal at Zen Garden Oriental Buffet Restaurant. Age UK Milton Keynes’ focus this year is on preventing loneliness and isolation among older people in our community.  The charity hopes..

After weeks of anticipation, Beat the Street is almost here! Find out more about the exciting initiative, register to play and try out the game at the Beat the Street Milton Keynes launch event this Saturday! Taking place at intu Milton Keynes on Saturday 28th January from 1pm to 3pm, the Beat the Street launch event is a fantastic opportunity to get involved in the community-wide initiative which will see thousands of Milton Keynes residents walk, run and cycle across their city to earn points and win prizes. Funded by Milton Keynes Council, Beat the Street encourages people to explore Milton Keynes by transforming the city into a giant game. Players can pick up a free card at a distribution centre near them and tap it against over hundred special sensors around Milton Keynes earning points for themselves and their team – the teams which travel the furthest will win..

Festive Road has received £2000 thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery. The funding boost from Postcode Community Trust will enable Festive Road to run a free one day Seminar, ‘Mobility for Disability: in Carnival and Outdoor Arts’, to be held at Festive Road’s creation space in Milton Keynes on 23rd March. We welcome people with all disabilities to this very collaborative event. We particularly want to engage people with physical disabilities, not only with our own artistic activities, but with carnival & outdoor arts more generally. The aims of the day will be to discover and uncover the inspirations, aspirations, challenges and boundaries to non-able bodied artists and performers, within the context of carnival and outdoor arts; and see how we, Festive Road, can create structures with disability needs in mind in the future. There'll be opportunities for discussion and sharing ideas; demonstrations, including a puppetry and performance taster..

To help celebrate Milton Keynes’ 50th birthday, intu Milton Keynes is inviting people to share their fashion ‘faves’ and ‘faux pas’ over the past five decades.  From famous flares to the regal roll neck, what fashion sense made sense and what didn’t?  The shopping centre is inviting people in Milton Keynes to post their fashion memories on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/intuMiltonKeynes.  Shelley Peppard, general manager at intu Milton Keynes says, “Looking back over the past 50 years is fascinating to see how times have changed and we have developed, especially in our wardrobe. I’ll be posting my picture online and thoroughly looking forward to seeing people share their pictures from the last half a century.” The campaign launches on Monday 23 January and finishes on 1 February, people can upload a picture and are invited to share the date it was taken.  intu Milton Keynes is holding several events..

MK – The Golden Years!  Just in you case you hadn’t heard Milton Keynes is celebrating its 50th birthday! A yearlong programme of events have been created to celebrate the birth of the “New Town” in 1967. Developed as an answer to alleviate the chronic housing situation in London, Milton Keynes became a truly ground-breaking initiative which has been able to attract over 260,000 people and encourage a wealth of recognised major international businesses.  Milton Keynes will be hosting a yearlong programme of exciting events and each household will be receiving a souvenir programme listing a wide variety of activities, in fact there is something that everyone can enjoy and share in this landmark birthday. Please visit http://www.mk50.co.uk/ and join the party!  Work tree – First Rung of the Ladder to Employment  In Milton Keynes we have established..

Buckinghamshire companies will learn how to communicate profitably with their customers at an SME Buckinghamshire Business Awards masterclass on 2nd February.  The modern business and awards masterclass at the Novotel in Milton Keynes will hear from PR and marketing expert Ashley Riley, who leads an award-winning agency, alongside national business awards guru Damian Cummins.  Damian said: “Businesses that are able to emotionally engage with their customers are more successful. “Telling customers that your company is a winner through awards is a very powerful endorsement and that is where PR, marketing and entering awards combine.  “Ashley has a track record through being Director of Communications at London Stansted Airport, managing charity campaigns and leading his own agency.  “For these reasons, we are sure that businesses attending this free event will find it extremely beneficial.”  As well as the opportunity to hear two experts, business people attending will be able to indulge..

The Parks Trust, the charity that cares for Milton Keynes’ parks and green spaces, has planned a series of events and activities to celebrate the city’s 50th birthday, with exciting activities for people of all ages and interests to enjoy. A highlight of the year for many will be The Parks Trust’s partnership with Milton Keynes Council to offer a special programme of 50 led walks throughout 2017. These walks will be held at a wide variety of locations across the beautiful and inspiring city, offering people the chance to discover new areas and learn more about Milton Keynes. The most adventurous of all will be The Parks Trust’s 25 mile Challenge Walk, which will begin at Howe Park Wood. This will be a self-guided walk stretching across the city’s parkland, with a downloadable map available at www.theparkstrust.com This will be complemented by The Parks Trust’s definitive list of the..

A New City Comes to Life, at Middleton Hall, kicks off Milton Keynes’ year, celebrating 50 years since the city was officially born. From Tuesday January 10 until the ‘Designation Birthday’ itself on Monday January 23, the huge exhibition tells the story of the UK’s most successful new city showcasing everything Milton Keynes. From dinosaur bones to driverless cars; from Stone Age nomads to the digital generation; from farms, sleepy villages and Victorian railway towns to a vibrant regional economic and cultural powerhouse of 260,000 people - and it is still growing. Follow the information and data trail and learn how Milton Keynes was born and built. What was here before, what’s here now, and what is to come. See archive images, period videos and those famous..

Willen Hospice held its Santa Dash on Sunday 18th December which took place around Willen North Lake, starting and finishing just outside the Willen Hospice gardens. Over 500 dashers attended and so far over £7000 has been raised to support the specialist care Willen Hospice provides. Currently it costs £7 per minute for Willen Hospice to provide the specialist end-of-life care for its patients and support for their loved ones –events such as the Santa Dash contribute greatly to helping raise those urgently needed funds. Sarah Sweet-Rowley, Events Manager at Willen Hospice said “We were delighted to see so many people take part in our Santa Dash. It was a wonderful morning for a festive run and was fantastic to see a big group of Santa’s from the community take part showing much needed support for the care we provide here at Willen Hospice. Thank you to everyone who took..

Milton Keynes women are being urged to get the New Year off to a great start by signing up now to Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life 2017.  The charity is calling on women of all shapes and sizes to show cancer who’s boss by choosing their event - Race for Life 5k, 10k or Pretty Muddy – and committing to take part at Campbell Park and Willen Lake this summer.  Although many see January as the perfect opportunity to start a new chapter in terms of health and fitness, motivation can slip as the cold weather drags on.      That’s where Race for Life comes in. The 5k and 10k events will take place on Sunday 11th June and Pretty Muddy will take place on Saturday 10 September so women who sign up now will be creating their own compelling goal to aim for later in the year,..

Ruddigore’s zany plot has it all - the villain who carries off the maiden; the priggishly good-mannered, poor-but-virtuous-heroine; the hero in disguise, and his faithful old retainer who dreams of their former glory days; the snake in the grass who claims to be following his heart; the wild, mad girl; the swagger of fire-eating patriotism; and ghosts coming to life to enforce a curse. Will virtue triumph and can love conquer all? Join the cast from Wolverton Gilbert & Sullivan Society at Stantonbury Campus Theatre from Tuesday 21 to Saturday 25 March 2017 to find out the answers for yourself. Tickets are available priced £16, concessions £13, under 16s £5 from First Night on 01908 510452 or via their website http://www.1stnight.co.uk/boxoffice.php Full of fun, laughter and wonderful music, this is an evening for the whole family and the show starts at 7.30pm at Stantonbury Campus Theatre, Milton Keynes, MK14 6BN. Wolverton..

Make up a team of 4 and tackle a new and unique challenge at the Caldecotte Xperience on the weekend of 18th and 19th March 2017. Test yourselves against a whole range of obstacles and challenges and you’ll learn what you can do and how to work together as a team. It’s hard and its great fun! As you follow a track around the site, you’ll climb, abseil, negotiate the scramble wall, go underground in the caving system, try to strike gold at archery, go canoeing on the lake, run round the lake and finally wade the river on your way to the finish. It is likely to take 1 to 2 hours to complete and each team will have its own start time. Points will be awarded for successfully completing each challenge so we will have a winning team at the end. It costs just £200 for each team..

We are looking for new volunteers to join our team as Visitor Experience Assistants, Meet and Greeters, Tour Guides and Buggy Drivers. If you love meeting new people and sharing your passion for historic places this could be the role for you. You will be on hand to assist our visitors throughout their visit and help to support the Visitor Experience team in the day-to-day running of Stowe House. Brilliant customer service is at the heart of what we do and our volunteers leave our visitors feeling refreshed and inspired.  'The Stowe House volunteers are a great group to work with and have an infectious enthusiasm for the property. New volunteers are made welcome and all are happy to share the wealth of knowledge they have'.  (Volunteer Visitor Experience Assistant) No prior experience is required to join our team as you will be given a full induction and training to help..

Parents with restless kids to entertain on cold and wet January weekends will be thankful for Gulliver's Land's January offer - the theme park's Splash and NERF Zones and The SFEAR are offering half price tickets all month long! To mark the 50th birthday of Milton Keynes - and as the perfect antidote to the post-Christmas blues - tickets to the indoor attractions are discounted by 50% during January. The three indoor attractions in Milton Keynes are open at weekends all year round, even when the main theme park is closed. The Splash Zone is a water play centre with water jets, sprays, streams and slides. The water isn't deep enough to swim in, so it's perfect for non-swimmers who just love to have fun getting wet. The water is heated to the perfect temperature giving families with young children a splashingly good time. The NERF Zone is the ultimate..

MK50 Anniversary Exhibition - A New City comes to Life The year-long MK50 celebrations kick off with a major free exhibition in January 2017 that tells the exciting story of the UK’s most successful new city and showcases everything Milton Keynes. From dinosaur bones to driverless cars; from Stone Age nomads to the digital generation; from farms, sleepy villages and Victorian railway towns to a vibrant regional economic and cultural powerhouse of 260,000 people, and it is still growing. Follow the information and data trail and learn how Milton Keynes was born and built. What was here before, what is here now, and what is to come. See archive images, period videos and those famous TV adverts as well as a unique collection of original architectural models of iconic city landmarks. Read the words and hear the voices of those who conceived and constructed Milton Keynes, the first residents and..