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To celebrate Northamptonshire garden birds, five star housebuilders Barratt and David Wilson Homes has launched a digital bird quiz to encourage people to learn more about where their feathered friends live. Like property seekers, birds need homes, and this quiz aims to highlight how residents in the county can help to provide a space for wildlife in their gardens. The launch of the quiz coincides with National Nestbox Week, which runs from 14th to the 21st February and encourages people to create homes for birds, whether these are built from scratch or bought from a shop. It comes as part of the leading housebuilder’s commitment to making wildlife friendly developments and celebrates its national partnership with the RSPB. Each entrant of the quiz will be able to learn more about their feathered friends as they’re asked to match common birds to their perfect homes. They will also be given the..

At the time of writing this article, we are still in the lockdown that has sadly been necessary because of the new variant of Covid-19 spreading across the country, and the pressures it is putting on our NHS. However, there has been positive news lately with more vaccines having been approved and now being rolled out to those who need it most. I am hoping that by the time of you reading this article, we will be close to having every extremely clinically vulnerable and over 80 individual, who wants a vaccination, having had at least one dosage.   Along with my colleague, Ben Everitt, MP for Milton Keynes North, we have been lobbying for Milton Keynes to be the location for a new pilot of coronavirus mass testing. The opportunity to mass test will enable us to identify individuals who are positive for Covid-19 and get them to isolate,..

I absolutely love being your MP. It’s a genuine privilege to represent our villages, towns and the top half of the city. That said, in common with so many other people, there have been some tough days over the pandemic. But now there is now light at the end of the tunnel. The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is an incredible achievement and will put us in a position to get life back to normal as soon as possible.  It was fantastic to have the Health Secretary visit Milton Keynes University Hospital which became one of the first places in the country to administer the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines. These are all huge milestones in our battle against the coronavirus and we will get through this together.  Sadly, as I write this in January our hospital is under immense pressure with a significant rise in hospitalisations and the staff are working incredibly hard to keep..

Local children’s charity Ride High is asking the people of Milton Keynes to take part in their new online baking competition, to help raise some dough to support the most vulnerable children in Milton Keynes.  Participants of all ages are invited to enter one of three cake categories: Best horse-themed cake, Best coronavirus-themed cake and Best Valentine’s-themed cake.  Judging the competition is International Pastry Chef Claire Clark MBE, along with Kirsty Lund Founder of Oh My Cakery, photographer Kate Everall and MK Blogger Sophie etc.   As it’s an online competition the judges won’t be able to taste the cakes, so participants will submit a photograph of their creation with a name and description, and the experts will judge them on their use of imagination, presentation and creativity.  There are fabulous prizes for the winning child and adult within each category, and the overall winner will join International Pastry Chef..

Great Linford Parish Council (GLPC) is calling on residents to get down and dirty to help save its local population of hogs! Milton Keynes Council is carrying out landscaping works to reduce bushes which will compromise the hibernating hedgehog population. The council will be checking beneath the development areas in advance, but GLPC would like to help the council find the hogs and is calling on everyone to have a rummage too, to ensure the wellbeing of our endangered spiny mammals. GLPC wants volunteers to turn detective by searching in the undergrowth to find hog nests and relocate them away from the danger of machinery. Any hedgehogs found will be moved to a safe location as close as possible to where are found. “These hedgehogs are at risk, and we need to take action quickly,” said a spokesman for Great Linford Parish Council, “The alternative is that hedgehogs get caught..

In celebration of 10 years in business, and in highlight of the company's development, vehicle body repair specialists formerly known as Scuff N Scratch Solutions, have rebranded to ‘VCR - Vehicle Crash Repairs’. Located in Denbigh Hall Industrial Estate, Bletchley, VCR - Vehicle Crash Repairs has built an exceptional reputation as an insurance approved accident repair body-shop, trusted by big name car brands, as well as hundreds of local car owners for many years. Established in 2011, Owner, Rob Clark set ambitious goals for his automotive repair company which started as a mobile service. Carrying out small repair work at people’s homes, Rob’s reputation as a trusted repairer quickly grew and he moved into a workshop in Milton Keynes. Employing a team of experienced and qualified technicians, within a year the business outgrew the first premises and moved into the current workshop where Rob and his team of specialists repair vehicles under insurance, or privately – all of which is under full warranty. Investing in the correct equipment and training to carry out insurance crash repairs, VCR is recognised by the..

I’m writing this as Christmas approaches, a time to pause and reflect on the year past and look forward to the year ahead. With the majority of 2020 being extremely different, it would be easy to focus on negatives. But as I hope this column bears out, there have been many positives to come out of 2020 as well. And at just past the halfway point in the mayoral year it also gives Lisa and I a chance to take stock of what’s gone well, what’s perhaps been less successful and what we might want to do in our remaining months of being the Mayor and Mayoress. As I pen this column we’ve just come out of a second period of national lockdown. Whilst the national situation slowly improves, we seem to be going the wrong way with an increase in the number of cases that is concerning. All we..

The intu Milton Keynes ‘Thinking of You’ campaign has been praised by recipients who received letters from people across the world at Christmas. The festive project, which asked people to write a letter to an older person spending Christmas alone, received an unprecedented response, even reaching communities from across the globe. Over 300 letters were sent from schools, community groups and individuals of all ages in the region and from other countries. Schools in Germany, the Netherlands and Czech Republic heard about the initiative and asked students to write letters to be added to the hampers created by intu Milton Keynes. Sending Christmas wishes, stories of their families and some people even sharing photos, the personal letters were added to boxes for people to read over the festive period. On Tuesday 22 December, Age UK Milton Keynes delivered over 100 boxes to people in the local community, following strict Covid..

Willen Hospice were delighted to receive a generous donation from The Morrisons Foundation to purchase 20 Dyson Hot + Cool Fans. The funding for the fans came from an £8,000 grant approved by the Trustees of The Morrisons Foundation. They will be used on the In-Patient Unit, as well as in Wellbeing rooms where holistic therapies and counselling sessions are provided. Kathy Smith, Clinical Project Lead, said: “We are pleased to have quality fans for our patients, and their families. Our work at the Hospice is all about comfort, and a huge part of that is giving each individual patient the option to have their room at the right temperature for them. It’s been a really challenging year for us, and we are facing a 50% loss in fundraising income. Despite this, we have continued to deliver free, specialist care to our patients and their families, and we have even..

intu Milton Keynes will safely open for non-essential retail on Wednesday 2 December at 9.30am with extended shopping hours, following the government’s announcement. The festive lights will be turned on, the smell of mulled wine will fill the air and the countdown to Christmas begins. The regional shopping destination will offer additional hours (2nd - 20 December: 9.30am-6pm Monday to Wednesday, 9.30am-8pm Thursday & Friday, Saturday 9.30am-7pm, Sunday 11-5pm, 21-23 December: 9.30am-8pm*) to encourage shoppers to stagger their visit throughout the day, where possible. Good news, intu Milton Keynes will be open Christmas Eve from 9.30am-6pm for shoppers wanting to get some last-minute ‘panic buys’. Wearing a face covering in the centre will continue to be mandatory and intu Milton Keynes’ team will be reminding everyone to do so if necessary. Hand sanitisers will remain at entrances and exits and throughout the mall and visitors are reminded to adhere to..

During April and May it did seem that most of our time at Dragonfly Traveller HQ was spent rebooking holidays, chasing refunds and cancelling holidays. We were also busy keeping our clients up to date with what was happening with their holiday and giving them advice on how to be safe and careful in their decision making. Every client who was due a holiday refund has now received their refund. And lots of 2020 holidays have been moved to 2021. Now, it does feel like there is some light at the end of tunnel, even though the length of the tunnel is a little tricky to measure. Between May and October - thanks in some part to the publishing of the travel corridor list by the Government (a list of countries, territories and regions from where you can travel to England and not have to self-isolate on your return) -..

Residents at Ashby House care home in Milton Keynes recently took part in a unique virtual event celebrating the Indian Festival of Lights. Residents were fascinated as stories of why and how Diwali is celebrated unfolded on screen. They had their names written in coloured powder as Rangoli designs, which are used to decorate homes during Diwali, thanks to demonstrations and explanations by Abhay, Manjiri and Mahi Joshi from local organisation Maya CARE. In the comfort of their care home lounge, residents made Diwali sweets, rolling out their own creative delicacies made with chickpea dough, under the guidance of Manjiri in her Zoom demonstration. Rose, a resident of Ashby House said, “It was very interesting to listen to the speaker, and I enjoyed the sweet balls at the end. Today, I have a much better understanding of what Diwali is about and I’m really thankful for the interaction.” Ashby House..

Staff at Country Court’s Lakeview Lodge Care Home in Bletchley, Milton Keynes received a ‘Thank You’ gift from the Kachra family, owners of the Country Court group this week.  The company operates 32 care homes across the UK employing over 2000 staff, all of whom will receive the gifts as thanks for their continued work caring for the some of the most vulnerable people in society. Country Court CEO Alykhan Kachra said “Our staff have been amazing throughout this pandemic, putting our residents before themselves and their own families. Many have worked long hours and extra shifts, we felt they deserved a treat, and this would be a great way to say thank you and to acknowledge the sacrifices that people continue to make”. At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic the group delivered a ‘Care Package’ to every member of staff consisting of over 20 items including food, drink..

Local five year-old, Ariya Thakrar from Great Linford, cycled an incredible 10 miles, raising a fantastic £600, for Willen Hospice on Saturday (27 June) as part of the Willen Hospice Cycle Europe Virtual Challenge powered by energie Fitness MK. Ariya, who only learned how to ride a bike two months ago, took to the paths and redways of Milton Keynes. She got caught in the soaking rain, and gusty winds, but was determined to keep on riding! With Ariya’s help, the Thakrar family raised over £1,100 in total. Parents, Helen and Bhavish Thakrar said, “Ariya was particularly touched by the story of Willen Hospice and the work they do, so she decided to do her own 10 miles bike ride to support them. We are so proud of her.” Tracey Jago, Events Manager said, “Ariya is such an inspirational young girl. We absolutely loved seeing photos of her out on..

Learning disability charity, MK SNAP has been awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. This award is the highest honour that can be bestowed by the Queen to a charity or voluntary group and is the equivalent of an MBE. MK SNAP’s CEO, Angela Novell said: “The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is an incredible recognition of our volunteers and their dedication to transforming the lives of people with learning disabilities.” Michael Bracey, Chief Executive, Milton Keynes Council said: “Milton Keynes Council would like to say a huge well done and congratulations to everyone at SNAP for this amazing award”. Helen Whalley, who nominated MK SNAP, after the support her brother Matthew Fegan, has received at MK SNAP said: “I’m really happy to hear this amazing news.” MK SNAP started almost three-decades ago. Parents, whose children had nowhere to attend after special school, started the learning and skill-building charity in..