The MK People's Stories - a Museum for a New City Project
A Museum For A New City is a project intended to help to shape the new permanent exhibition in MK Museum’s New Gallery, telling the story of how Milton Keynes was planned and built. The Museum wanted to know what people who call Milton Keynes home want to see, learn and discover. As the Museum was founded by local residents they felt that its future should be determined by local residents.
As part of the project Living Archive MK recorded filmed interviews with local residents to capture their stories and memories of life in Milton Keynes in order to help tell the “People’s Story”.
The project was made possible with support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
To view the digital stories created as part of this project visit our You Tube channel
https://www.youtube.com/@LivingArchiveMK
Creator
Living Archive MK in collaboration with MK Museum
Place
MIlton Keynes and surrounding areas
Reference number
MNC
Records in this Collection
Claire is the daughter of the artist Bill Billings. The family first moved to MK in the early 70s and lived in social housing in new estates such as Fishermead, Stantonbury, the Lakes Estate and Furzton. She recalls many positive memories of life on the Lakes Estate in the 1990s when she was a young ...
Jay was born in 1994 in Gloucestershire, moved from London to MK in 2016 and now lives in Bedford. He knew nothing about MK but having grown up in the Forest of Dean he appreciated the green spaces and ethos of the city. He currently commutes from Bedford by bus for work but would like ...
Jill moved to Galley Hill in MK from Windsor in the early 70s because her father got a new job here. They were allocated a new Council house and were the first family to live in it. She remembers it as a very safe place, growing up and playing out in the streets. They then ...
Joshua was born in Harare (Zimbabwe) in 1997. He moved to MK in 2007 with his family and lived on Fullers Slade, which was a culture shock although there were similarities with life in Zimbabwe due to the UK’s colonial influence. He feels that part of Milton Keynes’s core identity is in maintaining its green ...
Julian was born in Switzerland and moved to MK in 1971 as a result of his nuclear physicist father being appointed as first Dean Of Science at the newly-formed Open University. The family initially moved onto the Lakes Estate and then to Great Woolstone. He remembers the mud and the new developments being built; many ...
Rooda was born in Somalia in 1979 and moved to MK from Holland in 2014. She lives in Bletchley now. She was drawn to MK because she had family here; she also liked the green landscaping and the diversity of the population. She thought it would be a good place for her children to grow ...
Tina was born in 1976, a year after her parents moved to Milton Keynes. She is known as ‘Hench’, a nickname from Roller Derby, which she played for 10 years. She identifies as a lesbian, coming out as gay aged 18; she recalls how she became certain of being gay, and the reactions of family ...
Janice Quigley came to MK in her mid-20s in 1987, to escape the busy atmosphere of London. Her best friend lived in MK and Janice knew that the city was very green, and there were plenty of walks. and that attracted her. After initial temporary housing she obtained rental housing from MKDC and in 1996 ...
Remi Ajibola moved to MK with her mother and sisters as a child in 2008, to join her father who worked there. All her schooling was in MK, but the family have lived in several MK areas in council housing, now in Fullers Slade. Remi remembers that in MK she always felt a great sense ...
Asma Moustaoui was born in 1990 in Morocco .and moved to MK in 2013 on marriage, since her husband (now ex-husband) lived there. She knew very little about MK but learned that there was plenty of green space. She appreciates MK’s climate and atmosphere, having come from Marrakesh, which is very hot and full of ...
Viktorya was born in Ukraine and came to the UK in the early 2000s on a student visa after which she obtained employment which brought her to Milton Keynes in 2008. She moved to Warwickshire for a period to pursue her career but returned to MK in 2013 to settle down and start a family. ...
Chris Mottram Wooster identifies as a lesbian and came out to her family in 1970. Living in High Wycombe, she was attracted to Milton Keynes by its newness, visiting friends to go to the gay disco at The Cannon. Chris is a jazz musician (playing bass) and previously an artistic woodturner. in 1980 her band ...
Celeste Bryant was born in Milton Keynes in August 1998. She’s lived in Conniburrow, Beanhill and, currently, Heelands. She’s seen Milton Keynes grow and feels that it’s kind to animals, has many modern amenities and also has places to get away from it all. She feels that its different from cities she’s visited. Her special ...
Gwen was born in Aberystwyth in the early 1970s and grew up on The Wirral, Merseyside.
In the late 1990s to 2000s she programmed mainframe computers in London. She looked for jobs in software development and saw one in Milton Keynes.
She’d seen Milton Keynes’ parks, rivers and redways from the train. When she visited, she decided ...
Karen was born in Portsmouth. She was brought up in London and was working in Stockport in IT when she moved to Milton Keynes. She moved because her company was relocating to the area. All she knew about Milton Keynes was the roundabouts and concrete cows. She’s been in the same flat in Shenley Lodge ...
Lou was born in Los Angeles in 1956 and moved to London in 1985. In 2015, after her marriage ended, she moved to Stony Stratford where she had friends. She worked for two years as a primary school teacher, then retired. She got involved with Stony Tracks at York House and the Stony Lantern Committee. ...
Shona was born in Glasgow in 1961. Her family made two unsuccessful moves to Bletchley before settling there when she was 13.
Her education was disrupted and she had problems at school, but she went to the Compass Club. It became Counterpoint and her partner put on bands there like Chumbawamba and Conflict. She and her ...
Jamie is in his early 20s and works as a music teacher at the Radcliffe School in Wolverton, where he has lived all his life surrounded by family and friends. He is in his first year of teaching at Radcliffe and enjoys it very much. He plays piano, guitar and drums and is self-taught. He ...
Brian was born in London in 1969 and moved to Milton Keynes when he was 11 because his father, who worked for the BBC in a technical production job for the Open University, was offered a transfer from Alexandra Palace to Walton Hall. He knew nothing about Milton Keynes before he arrived, but, from the ...
Ayser was born in Iraq and lived in Baghdad with her family until 2001, when they came to England. Initially the family lived in Buckingham, where Ayser and her husband worked at the University, but then moved to Two Mile Ash. Back in Iraq, Ayser had trained as an architect and found MK to be ...
Adrian Moss was born in 1963 in Lancashire. He moved to Milton Keynes in 1984 when he got a job at Hanslope Park. He wanted to live somewhere close enough to work to cycle, so his first home was a rented bedroom in Plowman Close, Greenleys. After four months he bought a motorbike. In July ...
Roy was born in 1939 in Brighton. His first job was teaching English in Marlow. He produced school plays and realised that kids learned more quickly through drama than in the classroom. He became Head of Drama in Market Drayton. Before that, he was sent on a drama course at Keele University. He met Peter ...
Mohammed was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. He describes his happy childhood surrounded by friends and relatives; he was a sporty child. But when he was 17, and preparing for his final exams, the family were forced to evacuate Kabul as the Taliban began to take control. Mohammed describes what he refers to as the ‘hellish ...
Born in London, Tim came to MK with his family in 1972, having seen the (‘brilliant’) MK Design Centre Exhibition. Despite all the mud (!), it was an exciting place to grow up; he recalls life as a teenager and all the new developments. Educated at Stantonbury Campus, he praises his art teacher, Graham Mills. ...
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