Interview with Derek Newland (b.1956).
Derek Newland came to Milton Keynes from Hackney, London in 1974, looking for better accommodation. Working for the Post Office, he was an active unionist. Southern Gas offered him a job as a sales rep, and he was given a council house in Greenleys, after some delays. He comments on the housing layout and talks of fitting out and furnishing the house. Although regretting leaving London, he says: ‘we approached the move to Milton Keynes, I would say in a good spirit’ because of the better accommodation. He recalls incidents in the early days of the estate, the mud, and making friends. He became very involved in Greenleys Football Club: ‘that to me has been one of the best things that’s happened since I’ve been in Milton Keynes’, and was asked to manage the team. He comments on the number of really good players who lived on the estate and talks in details about the later history of the team, and his disappointment that they did not go further in national football.
Finding his job at Southern Gas unsatisfactory, he then became groundsman for Bucks County Council at Radcliffe School mobile unit, covering 22 schools. After difficulties with a newly appointed supervisor, he resigned and then worked briefly at the Mother’s Pride bakery in Leighton Buzzard. He notes that in 13 years in MK, he has never yet earned as much as he earned in London.
(Continued on tape 272)
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