PLANNING THE CONCRETE COWS.

In 1994 I published a book NOT THE CONCRETE COWS which was a kaleidoscope through the adolescent new city of Milton Keynes.  It has been out of print for decades but two weeks ago I tried to find a copy on Amazon or e-bay to give to a friend. I was absolutely gobsmacked at how much money people were prepared to pay for the book which in itself has gone down as a Milton Keynes Legend.

It saddens me how ignorant, and I use the word kindly, the average citizen of Milton Keynes is about our history and culture.

If you look at the book cover it shows a concrete cow in negative. The title and the image are saying there is more to Milton Keynes than the concrete cows.

I have wanted to write a follow up looking at Milton Keynes in the 21st century. I remained an idea until I saw just how much money - silly money - people are prepared to pay for the original.

Josh and Mrs Josh have supported me solidly for two years in community music projects I have been involved in so it was natural that I seek their help with a new book which we are going to call WE ARE THE CONCRETE COWS.  Josh was 3 year sold when the original book was published. As we have been going

around taking photographs he has thrown so many of his childhood memories at me which we just have to incorporate in the book.

We talked about Rollers and I find he went there. We passed the Milton Keynes Museum and he old me he had been involved in making something which is on display there. He went to Sir Frank Markham School, Lady Markham gave me permission to use Sir

Frank's work in the original book. I knew Bill Billings, Josh remembers as a child climbing onto the back of Bill's Peartree Bridge Dinosaur. When I fired a Fenny Popper last November it was Jelena, Mrs Josh, who filmed the explosion.  Josh spoke with me about The Point being built on ley lines, I put this yo former Mayor of Milton Keynes David Hopkins who said he had heard that before but was not sure if it was true or not. That's the point of a legend isn't it. A possibility, a graint of truth around which folklaw, a legend is built.

There is an utterly amazing level of interest in what we are doing but as I have explained to Josh if we do not put some kind of order into the project it will

collapse into chaos ! Chaos and failure. We are provisionally setting August 2021 as the publication date but we need to keep sharing the work on a regular basis to involve people and pick their brains. So starting with this page we are making a list of ideas we have. Some we are working on immediately, some we need help with. We then need to turn everything into a plan.

We want to incorporate the good causes we work with as a part of the project. We have an idea within

the work to place some secret time capsules around the area.

I wrote Not The Concrete Cows. We Are The Concrete Cows will be a three way production: Dave, Josh & Lena. Dave, Josh, Lena and Friends.

OK so here is the list we have brainstormed. Do you have anything to add ?  Do you have any pictures,

information or memories we could use ?  e-mail us: dashford566@gmail.com 

The Concrete Cows (Obviously)
Leon Bridge
Bridego Bridge - Bletchley Railway Stattion - Great Train Robery
Wired For Sound
Screw Bridge
Leonasaurus
Fenny Lock
Marshall's original shop in Queensway

Stylus Supplies Mountings
Hanslope Park - DWS Bletchley Park
Queen Elenor
Dead Queen Farm
Cock and Bull Story
Dick Turpin
Open University
Johnny Kinkade
The Bottle Dump
Dial A Bus
Superman - Stantonbury Campus
Peace Pagoda
Balancing Lakes

Sir Frank and Lady Markham
Robert Maxwell - Pergamon Press
London Brick Company
Wavendon Towers
Supermarkets find Bletchley
Taylors Dairy
Milton Keynes Hospital Action Group
Website.  When Not The Concrete Cows was published nobody had heard of a website. Today if you do not have a website you do not exist.  I have two websites I run: www.maxrobinson.com and www.geriatricdj.com BOTH are unfinished in construction and operation. I could not take on a third but we could use a website if we could find someone to write and operate it.
No Airport Here
The Queen's visit to Bletchley

Who opened CMK Rail Station and who opened The Centre MK
Fenny Poppers
Interaction
Grand Union Canal
The Ghost of Lady Leon
Woburn Abbey/Safari Park
Hogstie End
Torville and Dean
Greg Rutherford

This is a very big and growing list ! If every idea was given its own chapter the book world be so big nobody would ever read it and it would take for ever to write.  Many thoughts can be combined together, some may not make it through to publication. This is a brainstorm of ideas.
The White Hart
Wilton Hall
Bletchley Park

Pink Punters
MK Irish Centre
Fenny Poppers
Fenny Magistrates Court
Newport Pagnell Services
Arrows F1 Team
City Bus
Armstrongs Coaches
Bletchley Coaches
Sibley Haulage
MK Mayor's Chain Of Office

Not The Concrete Cows was published under the pen-name of Jonathan Flie. These days I use the pen-name Max Robinson. We Are The Concrete Cows will be written by three of us and published under the names: David, Josh and Jelena.

Chalky White
Bletchley Timber
Fred The Tread
Scott Of Bletchley
Billy J Kramer
Radcliffe Rollers
Status Quo
Lloyds Court
The Carlton Club
Leon Disco
Mayoral roll call
Willen Lake Fountain
Rollers Disco

The Point
Aston Martin
The Studio Bletchley
Milton Keynes Christian Centre
Sikh Temple
Milton Keynes Winter Night Shelter
The Milton Keynes Foodbank
John Newton

John Radciffe
Johnny Kinkade
Coca Cola Willen
Tod Cody
Bill Billings
Channel 40
Cable Radio Milton Keynes
Alan Turing
The most viewed image ever of Milton Keynes on Google

Wriglies Exotic Pets
Winston Churchill
Dr Jarvis
The National Bowl
The Compass Youth Club
Bletchley Leisure Centre
The Eight Belles
Spurgeon Baptist Church
Cowley and Wilson
Elmers
Doreen Adkins

I have a piece of writing I am working on, a book FANTASIES OF A GERIATRIC DJ. I need to finish this as a matter of urgency so I can devote all of my writing efforts to WE ARE THE CONCRETE COWS
The Three Bridges
Thomas French 

Bletchley Builders
Frosts Garden Centre
Tattenhoe Oak
Plant A Tree In 73 - Plant Some More in 74
West Bletchley Community Centre
The Naval Club
RAF Club
Carlows
Weatherheads

What's In A Name - Streets
Wolverton Works
The Royal Train
Keep Willen For Ever Tranquil
Bletchley Music Centre
The Three Trees
Station Square
Homebase
Argoss
Royal Mail
Domino
New City Heating

The original book had a chapter called The Follies of Milton Keynes. 
Follies ?  This new book will have something similar but with a stronger word - MONSTROSITIES perhaps.
Rip Off Car Parking
The Xscape
CMK Skyline

Too much fast food
The Hub
Milton Keynes working hard to destroy the planet
Milton Keynes, of course, is not a city. It has never been given city status. When Brian Baldry was Mayor of Milton Keynes he and I had a conversation about this. Brian was determined we would be a city.  I tried to access the page of past mayors on Milton

Keynes Council's website.  IT DOES NOT WORK. Brian served as mayor from 1980 to 1981. So why isn't Milton Keynes a city ?  Simple answer - MILTON KEYNES COUNCIL !

So how do we take this forward ?  How do we make sure the project happens, does not fail and the book is indeed published ?

This is a brainstorm. send me an e-mail:

dashford566@gmail.com with your thoughts, ideas, memories and photographs. PLEASE DO NOT send these via facebook as it is too easy to miss them there but do use facebook to get the message out.

Would you be prepared to be involved  in any way ? Don't be shy - SPEAK UP ! 

Over to you.