Doreen Christie

Doreen was born in London in 1961. The family moved to the Lakes Estate in April 1971. She had never lived in a house or had a garden before, but she didn’t like the quiet at night. She and her father were made ill by the ‘blow heat’ heating.

There was nothing to do when she was a teenager. There was roller-skating at the Agora, but the nearest nightclub was in Bletchley with no buses home. She went to working men’s clubs in Wolverton – the Top Club was the favourite.

She left school at 16 and got a job as a sausage-maker at Scots Meats in Bletchley. The bus took 15 minutes when she started, but extended to an hour as the town grew. Scots Meats paid well. She was made redundant at 19 when it closed.

She got a meat-packing job in Kiln Farm and worked there until she met her husband. They married in 1983 and had four sons. They started in her grandparents’ old flat, then were re-housed to Tinkers Bridge when they had their first son. Then they bought a house in Willen Park, then moved to Great Linford, then to Downs Barn. They took the children to working men’s clubs, especially the Side Club in New Bradwell.

She remembered the City Centre being built, The Point and having a cinema. She enjoyed walking and not being more than five or ten minutes from a green space.

The biggest change she had seen was the growth. She was disappointed that buildings were taller than the original plan and there were too many hotels. Her biggest bugbear was the lack of social and affordable housing for her children.

Her special memory was getting married in St George’s, Wolverton. She also remembered a Robbie Williams concert and seeing the Brickworks being demolished.

She thought the new gallery should tell the story of Milton Keynes from the start and be about the people who had lived it.