Izza Zir

Izza was born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1982. She moved to the UK when she married in 2006. They lived in London and struggled to buy there, so moved to Milton Keynes in 2016. She had family in Toronto and Milton Keynes reminded her of there. They moved to Fairfields which was very quiet. Stony Cricket Club was nearby and both her boys played club cricket.  Many of her neighbours had also come from London and three of her London friends made the move.

She worked full-time as a Procurement Manager for Avara Foods, but she also had her own clothing brand.

She liked the community in Milton Keynes and its central location. She used to dislike the roundabouts, but got used to them. The biggest change was that it had got busier. She didn’t need to go to London for her Asian shopping needs. There were more halal shops, restaurants and takeaways, as well as Asian women who did catering from home. She thought the city would continue to get bigger. She would like it to have a university.

Her family used the green spaces and Willen and Furzton Lakes were her favourites.. She watched cricket at Campbell Park. She was on a project with Truby’s to get Moslem women to be more active outdoors.

She thought the story of Milton Keynes was important because it evolved from small villages to lots of new people and everyone had a different story. She wanted the new Museum gallery to show how quickly it had expanded.

She had lots of great memories of Milton Keynes: some cricket matches and some of the Truby’s events, especially the annual Great Get Together Iftar.