Mkeneyan - A handbook for an amazing city

I am a busy little bee. Having finished writing my book THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR OUR NHS - MY story and YOUR story I am writing two books at the same time: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF SAMMY LEON and MKENEYAN A HANDBOOK FOR AN AMAZING CITY.

Here is a DRAFT chapter from MKENEYAN. I hope you like it.

Bletchley The Home Of The Codebreakers. You can forget that !

There is more to Bletchley Park than Alan Turing and Gang. It dates way back to the Doomsday Book, codebreaking is but a few years in its history and yes history is bunk after all !

There is more to Bletchley thank Bletchley Park and there is more to Milton Keynes than its southern tip which the Anglo Saxons named Blecca’s Lea meaning a meadow or clearing in the trees. Who was Blecca I am wondering.

When I first came to live in the area we were known as Bletchleyites, that’s a forgotten name is it not ?

Hey as I begin this chapter am I raising a few hackles ? You hackles may be raising but my tongue is in my cheek.

Bletchley the home of the codebreakers – FORGET IT !  How about Bletchley the home of the sausage ?

Scot of Bletchley, makers of the world’s finest cooked meat. That was no empty boast I can assure you. Located on Watling Street this business was too successful for our infant new city, workers had to be bussed up from London to meet the sausage demand. Scott of Bletchley, I wonder if the contacted coaches were Bletchley Coaches owned by Brian Baldry at one time Mayor of Milton Keynes. I can assure you Scott made far more sausages than ever the breakers decoded.

Olney the home of Amazing Grace. (Not to mention the odd pancake !)

What is the song which has been recorded by more artists than any other ? You don’t  need the Guinness Book of Records to tell you that song is Amazing Grace. Even the King of Rock and Roll himself recorded Amazing Grace. He used The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as his backing group. Pardon the pun but it truly is AMAZING.

 

Born on Saturday 4^th  August 1725 John Newton was captain of a slave trading ship. How horrible was that occupation. But some amazing grace wrapped itself around him and he totally changed his career becoming an Anglican Church cleric. For a time he served in Saint Peter’s and Saint Paul’s Church Olney where he wrote the world’s most artist recorded song.

John Newton left us on Monday 21^st December 1807 giving Milton Keynes heritage way beyond any codebreaker, sausage or tea bag.

Tea bag ?  Watch this space !

Tetley Tea may be world famous but it has its rivals, Typhoo, PG Tips et al but there is only one brand of pancake and that is an Mkeneyan pancake given to the world by Olney. I wonder if John Newton had an Olney Pancake for breakfast on the day he composed Amazing Grace. Ah no John Newton  was not born until 1725, legend tells us the Olney Pancake Race dates back to 1445. On Shrove Tuesday similar races are held around the world but not is so famous as our Olney Pancake race.

It may be history, it may be only a legend, a tradition. It may have happened, it may not have happened: but it could have happened. Thank You Mark Twain did they have a pancake race in Virginia City when you were editor of its local newspaper ?

Legend says that in 1445 a lady living in Olney was so engrossed in pancake making she forgot the time. When she heard the church bells ringing for the service she stopped what she was doing and raced to the pews. However, she did not put down her frying pan and took it with her.

Today any female over the age of eighteen who has lived in Olney for three months can race with their pancake in the footsteps on the 1445 absent minded lady and her frying pan.=

Back to Bletchley.  Bletchley the home of the tea bag.

Have you been watching this space ? In a moment you can go off and make yourself a pancake which you can eat with a cup of tea, Tetley teabag tea.

Once upon a time Tetley had a vast factory in Bletchley from which it first introduced the tea bag to our nation in 1953. That was the year of Her Majesty’s Coronation, did she have a Bletchley cup of tea when it was all over ?

Sadly Tetley moved away from the area in the early days of the New City of Milton Keynes but it did not take away its legend and tea bag heritage.

Stony Stratford ? That sounds like a cock and bull story to me.

Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross. Did you sing that as a kid ? Great, have a go and sing it again right now.

Ride a Cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see a fine lady upon a white horse;
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
And she shall have music wherever she goes.

Never mind Banbury and its cross. Forget the lady with her rings and bells, I wonder if she rode side-saddle. The important thing here is the horse, the Cock-Horse.

The Cock Inn was a coaching in in Stony Stratford. Today it is a celebrated landmark of legend and history in The City of Milton Keynes.

Bullshit !

Excuse me !  How dare I used language like that in my book ? 

I am talking about legends, I am talking about heritage and legend says Stony Stratford gave that word to our heritage.

Publishers of The Oxford English Dictionary what does the word bullshit mean ?

Nonsense, it means nonsense. It is an offensive word for ideas, statements or beliefs that you think are silly or not true.

By the way you dictionary publishers I will be inviting you, when I have finished writing this book, to add some more words to the lexicon of the English Language. Mkeneyan of course but also former Milton Keynes mayor Mike Barry’s collective noun for a group of mayors, a chain gang. But before then let me explain the origin of the word bullshit.

I have spoken about the Cock Inn in Stony Stratford, there is also just down the road the Bull Inn, another coaching Inn. Take a walk along Stony Stratford High Street and look at the abundance of pubs, notice how there are large archway entrances leading to stable yards at their rear. You will find similar establishments in other areas of Milton Keynes; Fenny Stratford and Woburn Sands but not Bletchley. Apparently sausages, tea bags and broken codes used motorised transport and not horses together with their carts.

Enough of that bullshit, back to Stony Stratford’s famous Cock Inn and Bull Inn. Legend says, Samuel Langhorne Clemens aka Mark Twain are you reading this, says that travellers staying in the Cock Inn would have a few pints too many of its ale and share a few somewhat unlikely tales among themselves then run, perhaps given the ale that should be stagger, down to The Bull Inn where they related them to the inebriated residents in its bar.  Hence Cock And Bull Story. Oxford English Dictionary take note.

Mark Twain, I can’t say I ever read one of your newspapers but I have visited Virginia City in the US State of Nevada where there was not a single inn in sight.

Newport Pagnell ?  James Bond lives down our street.

Never fancied driving an Aston Martin myself although in my Richard Headington detective stories JIF does.

Now seriously, what is Newport Pagnell’s greatest claim to fame ?  Do you ever watch Birds of

a Feather on retro TV ?  Daryl Stubbs and Christopher Theodopolopdis are serving an eight stretch for armed robbery. It was in Newport Pagnell according to series creators Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, they waved their sawn off shotgun.

As a kid at school growing up in the Royal Borough of Sutton Coldfield my mates and I had never heard of Milton Keynes, OK in 1959 there was the village but any idea for a new city had yet to wave its way into the thinking of Harold Wilson but we knew about Newport Pagnell. We called it Newporto Pagnellio, don’t ask me why we just did. And we had all been there.

On 2^nd November 1959, one day before my ninth birthday, Newporto Pagnellio Service Station opened on the M1 Motorway. My Dad drove a black Standard Eight which even in 1959 was getting on in years. Driving down to London to visit my grandparents this first service station on the motorway network was where we stopped to fill up with petrol and empty bodily tanks if you know what I mean. As an Mkeneyan I think you should all check out this legendary Newporto Pagnellio location.

James Bond Lives Down Our Street, do you know the song by Toys and Dolls ?  A great hit from 1985, off you pop to YouTube and have a listen.

 

My name is Bond! James Bond.
James Bond lives down our street
I've seen him he catches the 32 bus
James Bond lives down our street
sometimes he sits on the back seat with us
he's got a gun strapped to his chest
you can't shoot him in a bullet proof vest
a clever lad but can be a pest sometime
CHORUS:
0.0.7. James Bond lives down our street
Jimmy's a spy but both you and I know
Sean Connery or Roger Moore, that I'm not quite sure
But what I know is James Bond...
lives down our street
James Bond lives down our street
sometimes he gets a helicopter to work
James Bond lives down our street
me dad's oldfashioned and he says he's a jerk
he's always chasing a heavy mob
he should go out and get a proper job
he should go out and get a proper job sometime
CHORUS
Down our street there lives a spy
says he works for M.I.5
he's always a star when you're having a party
says he went to school with Russel Harty
he's a real smarty
he is a real smarty.
My hair is Blonde ! Dyed blonde !

In my book Richard Headington Private Investigator and its sequel The Case Filed of

Headington and Flemming Jif drives an Aston Martin DB11. James Bond favoured the Aston Martin DB5.

Which was the very first James Bond film you ever saw ?  For me it was Thunderball. At school we teenagers read Ian Flemming’s novels but were told by the teachers his writing was a flash in the pan, give it ten years and James Bond would have been forgotten. Thunderball was the fourth James Bond film. How many have there been so far ?

1962  Doctor No

1963 From Russia With Love

1964 Goldfinger

1965 Thunderball

1967 You Only Live Twice

1969 On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

1971 Diamonds Are Forever

1973 Live And Let Die

1974 The Man With The Golden Gun

1977 The Spy Who Loved Me

1979 Moonraker

1981 For Your Eyes Only

1983 Octopussy

1985 A View To A Kill

1987 The Living Daylights

1989 Licence To Kill

1995 GoldenEye

1997 Tomorrow Never Dies

1999 The World Is Not Enough

2002 Die Another Day

2006 Casino Royale

2008 Quantum Of Solace

2012 Skyfall

2015 Spectre

2021 No Time To Die

Twenty-five James bond films over fifty-nine years, hardly a flash in the pan !  What was the most popular car in 1962 ?  The Austin Mini-Minor. Without Newport Pagnell Agent 007 would have been licenced to drive this product of Alec Issigonis rather than an Aston Martin.

 

Ousedale School, Newport Pagnell’s centre of education. As a Work Tree volunteer I was once speaking with a group of Mkeneyan teenagers in this school. We were talking about the plight of homeless rough-sleepers. This lovely young lady, she would have been about fourteen, spoke about how she and a friend were in Central Milton Keynes and had seen one such person. That coming week-end she and her friend were going back to the shopping centre to buy a pillow and a blanket which they would give to the unfortunate gentleman. What truly lovely people she and her friend were. To my way of thinking there was more fortune in their kindness than all the profit from the twenty-five James Bond films put together.

One last thought. If this is Newport Pagnell, where is Oldport Pagnell ?

Wolverton – is that place still working ?

In the early 1970’s I toured Wolverton Works where its site manager said: There would be grass growing in the street of Wolverton if it were not for the railway.

In the good old days there was Bletchley Station in the South and Wolverton Station in the North. Central Milton Keynes Railway Station did not open until 1982. It was HRH Prince Charles who cut its ribbon. I wonder who opened Bletchley but never mind that it is Wolverton right now that is important.

But Wolverton was more than a small railway station. Along one side of the road was Wolverton Works. Conveniently located mid-way between London and Birmingham Wolverton was the maintenance centre for railway carriages. It also as a P-Way team (Permanent Way) maintaining the rail tracks. The Royal Train was also garaged at Wolverton, hidden in a siding behind the work sheds.

Sadly, Wolverton Works is no more. The site now accommodates Tesco Supermarket, this that and the other. However, there is no garden maintenance contractor as grass is not growing in the twenty-first century streets of Wolverton.

The now infamous publisher Robert Maxwell was labour member of parliament for Buckingham, which included Milton keynes, from 15^th October 1964 until 29^th May 1970. I will talk more of this gentleman in another chapter but to say here he was a major employer in the early days of Milton Keynes. He took over Bletchley printers and made it part of Pergamon Press. In Wolverton, on the opposite side of the road to Wolverton Works were buildings housing areas of the Maxwell Corporation’s empire. What’s there today ? Go and have a look. I can tell you one thing and that is you will not find a single blade of grass nor will you find a single printing press.  That’s TWO things. Ah yes. It would appear, like Robert Maxwell, I have difficulty counting.

Bletchley The Home of the Sausage ?  Nah, I’m vegan !  Bletchley The Home of the Teabag ? Sorry but I am tea-total ! I guess I’ll just have to go and break a few codes. Anyone got a hammer I can borrow ?

Hospital Radio Milton Keynes

Within my book THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR OUR NHS - MY story and YOUR story to be published on 5th July is this chapter:

In the early 1990’s when writing articles for the local press I spent time at Hospital Radio Milton Keynes. The article published later appeared in my book Not The Concrete Cows. Here is that article:

Channel 5 Milton Keynes Hospital Radio:

There's a degree of one upmanship in this business, explained hospital radio chairman Peter Royal. I know one outfit that works out of a converted kitchen and another that broadcasts from an old linen store, but we can beat the all, our studio is situated in what used to be the gents loo !

Staffed entirely by volunteers and surviving on an annual budget of less than one thousand pounds Channel 5 Milton Keynes Hospital Radio is looking forward to celebrating its tenth birthday later in the year.

A stay in hospital isn't very much fun for anyone but staff at Milton Keynes General go out of their way to make it as comfortable as possible. An army of volunteers, including the League of Friends, is co-ordinated by a full time member of staff with the second battalion working through the radio station.

Channel 5 broadcasts every evening of the week with a full schedule of programmes at the weekend. Amateur DJs and presenters rushing from work clutching scripts and records but listening to their professionalism on air it is difficult to realise they may have spent the last eight hours wrestling with a busy office or factory floor.

I spent a Friday evening eavesdropping on Peters show, Royals after Nine, listening to a combination of lively chatter, news,  music and competitions. Peter and his wife Jenny, who has a spot on Tuesday evenings, have been working in hospital radio for twenty-six years and were founder members of the Milton Keynes station.

They have seen the station grow from programmes on just three evenings a week to its present high profile. But it isn't just playing records that keeps the station alive, volunteers visit the wards informing the patients of the day’s  programmes and inviting requests. Upon arrival in hospital everyone receives a highly professional programme guide. The next project the management committee is planning is for an outside broadcast unit which will not only be able to cover local events but also take the microphone to the bedsides so involving the patients themselves in the programmes.

Peter Royal explained with the average stay in hospital being less than a week it is important the station is constantly put before patients if broadcasters are not to sit each evening talking to themselves. With the constant flow of requests coming everyday into the Channel 5 office there is little danger of that happening.

The station has composed its own top ten favourites from listeners request: Nessun Dorma by Pavarotti,  I Just Called To Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder, Lady In Red by Chris de Burgh,  Everything I Do by Bryan Adams, Memory by Elaine Paige, Music Of The Night by Michael Crawford, Power Of Love by Jennifer Rush, One Day At A Time by Lena Martell,  Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen and The Old Rugged Cross.

While none of his songs appear in the stations top ten, by far the most requested artist is Cliff Richard .

Peter describes his mixture of easy listening and Radio One and a half, somewhere between the BBC’s two major music networks.

But Channel 5 is facing something of a problem in broadcasting recently published music. With the changes from vinyl to compact disc the station is having difficulties incorporating the modern and more expensive format into its budget. Although approaches have been made to local record shops none has yet been willing to offer a discount on purchase of CD singles.

With a decade of happy and successful broadcasting behind it Milton Keynes Hospital Radio looks forward to an even brighter future. While his broadcasters hope you will never have to be in hospital and, therefore, listen to them they promise should you find yourself in the wards, there will be happy programmes designed to make your stay a little more present.

In order to update this article I contacted the hospital radio a number of times. No contact received a reply. SAD.

Here are some YouTube links to those former TOP TEN.

Nessun Dorma by Pavarotti  Luciano Pavarotti – Nessun dorma [Best Quality on YouTube]

 

I Just Called To Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder – Stevie Wonder – I Just Called To Say I Love You (Music Video)

 

Lady In Red by Chris de Burgh – Chris De Burgh – Lady In Red (Official Video)

 

Everything I Do by Bryan Adams – (Everything I Do) I Do It For You (Official Music Video)

 

Memory by Elaine Paige – Memory’ Elaine Paige | Cats The Musical

Music Of The Night by Michael Crawford – Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael Crawford – The Music Of The Night

Power Of Love by Jennifer Rush – Jennifer Rush – The Power Of Love (Official Video) (VOD)

 

One Day At A Time by Lena Martell – One Day at a Time

 

Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen – Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody (Official Video Remastered)

 

The Old Rugged Cross – Hymn – Old Rugged Cross

 

What a fantastic choice of music ! Patients listening all those years ago to Milton Keynes Hospital Radio had the very, very best taste in music !

Check out my own radio podcasts at www.geriatricdj.com 

Rain stopped play so let's talk about being an Mkeneyan

Rain stopped play !

I did not, as planned, walk yesterday in the footsteps of Sammy Leon as it was raining but instead I began working on my new book. Here is the DRAFT introduction.

Well first things first you can change your question. Mkeneyan is not an inanimate object, it is a person so we should be saying WHO IS AN MKENEYAN ? My using the word an and not a will give you a hint as to the way Mkeneyan is pronounced.

This book is the third volume within a trilogy. Within the opening of volume one Not The Concrete Cows published in 1993 I penned these words.

I want to say, right at the outset of this little book that I am a strong supporter of Milton Keynes. My wife was actually born in the area but I proudly boast being one of the first immigrants to the new city, coming to live here in 1971.  All of my children have been brought up in the city and I consider it to be a fine place to live. Fortunately, however, it is not Utopia - thank goodness for that but never let it be said in my hearing the best thing to come out of Milton Keynes is the M1 !

I doubt there is such a thing as a Milton Keynes Fan Cub but if they were then you could certainly put me down for a lifetime subscription.

For many years I said I wanted to write a sequel to Not The Concrete Cows but my involvement in a wide range of community projects simply did not allow me the time to sit and rattle the keys of my laptop. (Note, I penned the words for Not The Concrete Cows but laptopped their descendants. Technology !) So in 2020 the year than never was and lock down gave me an abundance of time and so came volume two – Milton Dreams The City That Never Was. In Milton Dreams the dream I tried to spark was that  one day our home would be granted a city charter. I promised that when this happened I would turn my two books into a trilogy with Milton Keynes The City That Truly Is.

I think I may need to make an appointment to see my doctor as my body is covered with bruises. To be more precise my body is covered with pinch marks where I have been nipping myself making sure it is not I who is dreaming !  On Friday March 20^th 2022 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II granted Milton Keynes its city charter. I am not dreaming am I, I am awake. Let me give myself a pinch to check.

Owch ! I am awake. On with the story then.

History is bunk. A quotation from Henry Ford and something I totally agree with. History belongs in a stuffy old museum where boring people can spend their time. Heritage is what is important. Heritage is alive. At the centre of society’s live it advances, is added to and moved forward every day.

Another quote. This from Mark Twain the pen-name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens: It may be history, it may be only a legend, a tradition. It may have happened, it may not have happened: but it could have happened.

Within Milton Keynes there is more heritage and more legend than any other town, city or village in the country. Within that legend of heritage Milton Keynes started as a village, became a town and is proudly now a city.

Those who live in Liverpool are Liverpudlians, those who live in Manchester are known as Mancunians, Birmingham Brummies and London Londoners. What about the residents of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch ?

Those of us who live in Milton Keynes ate Mkeneyans.

I came up with the word Mkeneyan and claim all rights to it !  No I don’t I want this to be a word of pride which all residents of our amazing city can lay claim to. In 2021 I contacted the Milton Keynes Citizen newspaper inviting it to take the name and broadcast it to all “citizens”. Obviously not interested, its editorial team did not respond to my  idea. Oh dear, what  a shame, never mind !

Around the same time when Milton Keynes Council failed to engage with my a series of letters wishing to add my thinking to its presentation to Buckingham Palace for a city charter I submitted my own presentation based on my love for my home and using my writing across more than three decades. I received a lovely and supportive letter in return. (Unlike the Milton Keynes Citizen and Milton Keynes Council Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II knows how to read and write !)

So here I am tapping away on my laptop introducing the third volume in my trilogy. Milton Keynes The City That Truly is – NO. That title I am abandoning as it does not capture what I am aiming to do.

Not The Concrete Cows as a kaleidoscope through the adolescent new city of Milton Keynes. Milton Dreams The City That Never Was set out to spark a dream that  one day we would be granted a city charter. That day has now come and with it the title for the third volume is Mkeneyan – A Handbook For An Amazing City.

The bunk can stay in history. Here I am going to take the heritage and legend of our amazing CITY and inspire Mkeneyan love for our home.

Is that OK with you ?

THEN OFF WE GO.

Are you a proud Mkeneyan ?  Join our facebook page.

If you want to read NOT THE CONCRETE COWS Then CLICK HERE

If you want to read MILTON DREAMS THE CITY THAT NEVER WAS Then CLICK HERE

If you want to read MKENEYAN A HANDBOOK FOR AN AMAZING CITY THEN WATCH THIS SPACE

Herbert Leon MP

HERBERT LEON MP

I am delighted with the number of people who read my DRAFT text for In The Footsteps of Sammy Leon as I wrote about my lovely visit to Leon Rec. WOULDN’T IT BE NICE IF ALL PARKS WERE LIKE LEON REC.

Two things today.

I want to visit the location of the old Fenny Stratford Magistrates Court then write about Sammy Leon’s role as a JP.

That done I am going to Ian Stewart’s constituency office to give him a DRAFT I am working on telling of Herbert Leon MP.

In writing this story of the heritage given to Bletchley and Fenny Stratford, now proudly part of THE CITY OF MILTON KEYNES I am inviting Iain Stewart Member of Parliament for Milton Keynes South to write the foreword to the book. Iain is walking directly in Sir Herbert (Sammy) Leon’s footsteps as he was also our local MP.

Anyway here is the text so far.

SIR HERBERT LEON Liberal

Sammy was elected as MP for Buckingham in 1891 in a by-election called when Sir Edmund Verney was expelled from the House of Commons. He was re-elected in 1892 but was defeated in the 1895 general election.

Sammy served as High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire in 1909. He was created a baronet in the 1911 Coronation Honours. That being the coronation of King George V.

When he was elected in 1891 he was an opposition member. The Conservatives were in power with Robert Gascoyne-Cecil 3^rd Marquis of Salisbury as Prime Minister. In 1892 Sammy was re-elected serving in government under William Gladstone as Prime Minister. And then until he lost his seat in the 1895 general election under Prime Minister Archibald Primrose 5^th Earl of Rosebery.

When he died in 1926 Sir Herbert Leon’s funeral was held at Golders Green Crematorium.

WILLIAM CARLISLE Conservative

Serving from 1895 to 1906 as conservative member of parliament for Buckingham North. I need to do more research on this gentleman.

Frederick Verney Liberal

Serving from 1906 to 1910 as liberal member of parliament for Buckingham. I need to do more research on this gentleman. The Verney Family, of course, was significant in Buckinghamshire. In the early 1980’s when I served on the jury for three cases at Aylesbury Crown Court the judge was a Verney.

The dates I have do not add up !  There must be a missing MP and even then there is a gap. There was a Liberal member of parliament for Buckingham from 1910 to 1915 but I am not yet sure who this was.

George Bowyer

Elected as Member of Parliament for Buckingham in the 1918 general election. . I need to do more research on this gentleman.

Aiden Crawley I am not able to find anything about this gentleman.

SIR FRANK MARKHAM Conservative

In the 1950 general election Frank Markham stood as the conservative candidate in the Buckingham Constituency but failed to beat the sitting labour member Aiden Crawley. In the 1951 general election he beat Crawley with a slender majority of fifty-four votes. With further narrow majorities he held the seat in 1955 and 1959 elections. He stood down before the 1964 general election.

He was given a Knighthood on 30^th June 1953 by Queen Elizabeth in her Coronation Honours list.

When Frank Markham entered the House of Commons in 1951 Winston Churchill was Prime Minister. When Churchill stood down in April 1955 Sir Frank Markham served under Sir Anthony Eden until 1957 and then under Harold McMillan until 1963 and then Sir

Alec Douglas Home until the 1964 general election.

I twice met Sir Frank Markham in the early 1970’s when I attended lectures he gave at the time of his publishing The History of Milton Keynes and District. I briefly knew his wife, Lady Markham when I served as the student governor of Milton Keynes Teacher Training College. We used to sit together at meetings. Later when I began my own writing about the heritage of our new city Lady Frances Markham gave me permission to use her late husband’s work.

Sir Frank Markham died on 5^th October 1975. He and Lady Frances are buried in Calverton Road Cemetery Stony Stratford.

ROBERT MAXWELL – Labour

The now infamous publisher Robert Maxwell was labour member of parliament for Buckingham from 15^th October 1964 until 29^th May 1970. He ran for election in the March 1974 general election which overturned the conservative government of Edward Heath and put Harold Wilson back in Downing Street. However, Maxwell failed to unseat the conservative Bill Benyon.

I was a student at Milton Keynes Teacher Training College in 1974. Maxwell came to the junior common room to say that Prime Minister Edward Heath was going to visit the Conservative Club in Queensway so would we students please stand outside a boo the prime minister. Some did but most of us went to cheer Edward Heath. I clearly remember Robert Maxwell dressed in a white jacket standing with a loud speaker hurling political abuse at Prime Minister Heath. Heath ignored the gathering and went straight from his car into the club.

Under suspicious circumstances Robert Maxwell died on 5^th November 1991. He is buried in the Mount of Olives Cemetery in Jerusalem.

BILL BENYON – Conservative

Benyon was elected as member of parliament for Buckingham in 1970. He held on to his seat for the next three elections. At the 1983 election he stood for the new Milton Keynes Constituency. He then retired in 1992. At that election the seat was divided into two: Milton Keynes North East and Milton Keynes South West. He died on 2^nd May 2014 at the age of eighty-four. I have not been able to find where he is buried.

In May 1993 Benyon was awarded an honorary doctorate at the Open University in Milton Keynes. This university was co-founded by Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

A very wealthy man Benyon was not regarded as a good constituency MP with many saying he did not relate to the ordinary man and woman. However, the ordinary men and women of Milton Keynes voted for him as their parliamentary member for twenty-two years making him the longest serving MP for the area.

I did meet him once. When I lived in Sutton Coldfield before coming to Milton Keynes I had a friend who was the great-great nephew of Howard Carter who discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun. When the teacher training college held a special lecture marking the fiftieth anniversary of the tomb’s discovery I invited my friend to come along. The front row was filled with signatories including MP Bill Benyon. My friend and I slipped in near the rear of the hall but when the college principal Doctor Garwood learned of my guest he rearranged the front row so we took place of honour. Bill Benyon was not amused !

BARRY LEGG – Conservative

Who ? Until I began researching this chapter I had forgotten all about him.  Barry Legg was member of parliament for Milton Keynes South East from1992 until he was defeated in 1997 by Doctor Phyllis Starkey.

DOCTOR PHYLLIS STARKEY - Labour

Phyllis Starkey served as MP for Milton Keynes South West from 1^st May 1997 to 12^th April 2010. She was regarded as a good constituency MP. In May 1997 she served under Tony Blair as prime minister then under Gordon Brown when he moved into Downing Street on 27^th June 2007.

I met her briefly when she was canvassing in the 2010 general election. She was standing outside Melrose Avenue shops when she engaged me. I explained that in my opinion Gordon Brown did not understand the lives of ordinary people living in Milton Keynes. To this she replied: he does understand and it is my job to make sure he understands. When it became clear I would not be voting for her she firmly brought our conversation to and end and moved to engage with someone else.

IAIN STEWART – Conservative

Sammy Leon, William Carlisle, Frederick Verney, George Bowyer, Aiden Crawley, Sir Frank Markham, Robert Maxwel, Bill Benyon, Barry Legg, Phyliss Starkey and now we come to our present incumbent Iain Steweart. 

To be continued ?

What next ?

 

Walking in the footsteps of Sammy Leon

Sammy you would LOVE this place, I just know that you would.

At its height Milton Keynes Development Corporation ran an advert on television which has become known as The Red Balloon Advert. It ends with these words: Wouldn’t it be nice if all cities were like Milton Keynes ?

I want to suggest something new. WOULDN’T IT BE NICE IF ALL PARKS WERE LIKE LEON REC ?

A minute for Fenny Stratford Urban District Council for Tuesday 22^nd February 1898 reads:

A letter was read from Mr P Cobb, Solicitor to Herbert Samuel Leon, of Bletchley Park, enclosing deed of gift of a piece of land forming until recently part of the Glebe of the Rectory and Parish Church of Bletchley, situate in the Parish of Fenny Stratford, containing by admeasurement nine acres, two roods and twenty-three perches or thereabouts, together with a pathway leading there to and from the Bletchley Road for the purpose of a recreation ground.

The chairman proposed and Mr Thomas Kirby seconded that best thanks of the council be given to Herbert Samuel Leon Esquire for his magnificent gift. Carried unanimously.

Tuesday 24^th May 2022, how many years later is that ? Where’s my calculator ?

One hundred and twenty-four years and three months. Tuesday 24^th May 2022 Sammy Leon I went to your park to walk in your footsteps.

I have a photograph, a bit showing its age I am afraid, taken when Sir Herbert and Lady Leon opened Bletchley Market. Sitting on Lady Fanny’s knee is the Leon Doggie. I wonder what was his name. As I walked in Sammy Leon’s footsteps today my own doggie Jake came with me and walked in Leon Doggie’s footsteps, or should that be pawprints ?

We parked our car in Leon Avenue then walked sown the pathway to the recreation ground. Coming towards us was a gentleman sitting in a motability scooter which he steered towards us. He wanted to speak to Jake and welcome him to the park. How lovely.

I am a bit of a treeaholic !  I am fascinated by trees and am proud to have given the arboretum of life a couple of bits of wisdom.

Trees are the fingerprints of nature – no two are exactly alike.

 And

Trees are the history book of nature – if only they could speak what stories would they tell ?

Indeed a treeaholic I may be but ignorance means I can seldom tell one species of tree from another. But when you are appreciating the beauty of a tree science and botany are not really important.

When taking photographs of trees I try to capture the sunlight coming through the branches and the shadow it casts on the ground.

There are some special trees living in Leon Rec. I am guessing none are old enough, I may be wrong, to have been around when Sammy and his family walked in the park, the park Sammy so generously gave to our community one hundred and twenty-four years ago.

On the far side of the park there was a gentleman picking up litter. He had a problem. There was no litter for him to pick up !

WOULDN’T IT BE NICE IF ALL PARKS WERE LIKE LEON REC ?

I wonder how old this tree is. Sammy, do you possibly remember it ?

As I walked in Sammy’s footsteps I wondered how much had changed within the park since 1898. Society has changed and our community has changed but this gift of Leon Park has changed only in that it is now an important heritage with so many stories it could tell if only the trees could speak.

I could see a fenced off area which I guessed was designating an area of the park for replanting or something. Jake and I wandered over.

Doggie Jake thoroughly approved. Doggie Leon, I bet you do too.

To one side of Leon Recreation Ground today stands what is Knowles School. Formerly it was Bletchley Road School.  In the Leon days when Lady Leon was heavily involved with the school. Children were playing happily during their morning break, their sound blended with the hundreds of Leon Rec bird singing in the trees.

In my camera’s experience birds like to have their photographs taken.

I was tempted but Doggie Jake said I was not allowed to have a go on the exciting kiddie adventures in the park. A bit more than the ordinary run of the mill swings and slides.

Walking in the footsteps of Sammy Leon I tried to picture the children from the late Victorian times who were able to play in the park when the generosity of Sir Herbert, Sammy, Leon gave it to our community.

Well Sammy, Doggie Jake and I thoroughly enjoyed today’s walk in your footsteps. Thank You so much for Leon Rec.  History is bunk. A quotation from Henry Ford and something I totally agree with. History is dead and belongs in a stuffy old museum. It is HERITAGE that is important. Heritage is a live and grows day by day. Milton Keynes has more heritage per square mile than any other village, town or city in the country. Sammy Leon you are responsible for so much of that history. Over the coming days and weeks as I write this book my feet are going to walk more in your footsteps as I seek to celebrate and applaud that heritage. THANK YOU.

Wouldn’t it be nice if all cities were like Milton Keynes ?  Wouldn’t it be nice if all parks were like Leon Rec !