Rescuing Leon Dinosaur - AN UPDATE.

In campaigning to save Leon Dinosaur I have been careful in speaking about Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Town Council to refer to FALSE information and avoid the “L” word. Now within its recent posting there are LIES ! Two of them.

Sign the petition:   

https://www.change.org/LeonDinosaur

Check out the council's posting at the end of this account.

“…recent oral information…” NOT TRUE. After much difficulty I received information IN WRITING from Milton Keynes City Council regarding the dinosaur’s ownership, stating it had been in the possession of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford Town Council for seven years. I photocopied this and gave it to Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Town Council. It had the information IN WRITING. To use the word oral is to downgrade the information almost making such hearsay. It is also UNTRUE.

“….was never intended to be a long-lasting public art installation…” EXCUSE ME this was my project, its demise is the fault of Bletchley &

Fenny Stratford Town Council. It was Headmaster Bruce Abbott’s idea. I was the project co-ordinator and I know what I co-ordinated !  Bill Billings, Community Artist worked with Leon School Students to make it happen. How dare Bletchley and Fenny Stratford Town Council give this false information within its posting claiming it was never intended to be long-lasting ! That is UNTRUE. Untrue and loaded with disrespect.

“…The Town Council has previously advised in good faith ….” 

Good faith ?  Incompetence perhaps would be a better word. Why when I first made enquiries were proper checks not under taken ?  How can a public body own a community asset and not be aware of such ?

Just how can members of that public body stand by and watch the demise of a community asset and not ask what is happening ? 

Why when I first started the campaign to save Leon Dinosaur did a member of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford Town Council attack me on social media ?

I have made a Freedom Of Information request to name the writer of the post and who authorised its publication. I will then add this person to the formal complaint.

Sign the petition:   https://www.change.org/LeonDinosaur

Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Town Council is clearly not a fit and proper organisation to have anything to do with rescuing our dinosaur.  Please share this matter, send the number of signatures through the roof, we need to set aside the failings of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford Town Council and save our much loved Leon Dinosaur.

How many council members are aware of this situation and how many do not care ? How many feel guilty and how many regard what is happening an an annoying and unnecessary irrelevance ? For those who genuinely care and feel saddened by what their council has done I invite them to join the campaign and sign our petition.

https://www.change.org/LeonDinosaur

Signatures as of midnight Friday 21st April 2023:

MK Today - Wednessay 19th April 2023

What are your memories of driving in our New City ?

Here are some of mine.

What was the very first car you owned ?

Mine was a Triumph Herald registration LSS482D. I paid £125 cash for from a seller in Hunter Drive, Bletchley from an advert I saw in the Bletchley Gazette. To call it a rust bucket would be to insult the bucket !

What was your first car ?

I learned to drive in 1977. In my younger days I did not particularly want to drive, I knew someone whose father was killed in a car accident and I did not want to be involved in a crash which hurt or even killed someone. But living in Milton Keynes a ser of wheels really was increasing in importance. I wasn’t a drinker as such but did enjoy the odd pint in the pub with my mates, signing up for driving lessons I made a conscious decision to stop drinking and I have not driven since.

Who taught you to drive ? I was taught by a gentleman teaching under the name of Drivewell based on Shenley Road in Bletchley. Much of my driving tuition took place on Water Eaton’s Trees Estate and the roads behind Queensway. Unlike driving students today I was not taught in a supermarket car park !  Well, we didn’t have supermarkets in Milton Keynes back then !

Can you remember the roads you learned to drive on ? Where was the test centre you went to ?  For me it was based in a wartime hut attached to Bletchley Park on Wilton Avenue. Make sure the doorway is wide enough for me to get my head through, I passed first time !

How old were you when you passed your test ? I was twenty-six and when my license was issued I looed with amazement at its expiry date, 3^rd November 2020. As a young guy it was incomprehensible to consider myself as an old man in 2020. 2020, that’s history now !

While I am being a bit autobiographical here I am touching a few legends from our New City’s youth. As I invite you to answer a few questions along the turn of our kaleidoscope ponder your own legends. Time for another question.

When you passed your driving test and had your first car, where in Milton Keynes did you but  its petrol ? For me it was on Whaddon Way in West Bletchley.

Can you still buy petrol on Whaddon Way today ? In those far gone days there were three petrol stations, one near the junction with Buckingham Road which is now a block of flats, opposite the Catholic Church with the junction at Shenley Road. That location is still operating. At the other end of Whaddon Way juctioning with Melrose Avenue was petrol station number three. No longer selling petrol it is today a repair and MOT centre where today’s Kia is maintained with first rate service.

Now this next question will tell your age if you are able to answer it. When you took your car to be filled with petrol was that before self-service ? Was there an attendant on duty at the pumps waiting to fill your car.

What is the worst car you have ever owned ?

Mine was a Russian (Soviet Union) Lada. There was a super car dealer in Wolverton which imported these vehicles from behind the Iron Curtain. Great car dealer, rubbish cars. In the short time I owned that cream coloured Lada it cost me more in repairs once the warranty expired than did its purchase price.

Let’s have a few legendary names from Milton Keynes the city built for cars.

Hertz Langhire in Bletchley’s Duncombe Street.

Also in Bletchley Cowley and Wilson Ltd

Bletchley Motors and Bletchley Motor Rentals

Across in Woburn Sands, Pikesley’s

Wolverton Motors

The wheels on the ‘bus go round and round:

Armstrong Coaches

Bletchley Coaches

Tri-Central Coaches, a bit down the A5 but still serving Milton Keynes.

As did Robinson Coaches

Milton Keynes City Bus

And we must not forget Milton Keynes Dial-a-Bus. As the Development Corporation was trying to work out where the ‘bus routes needed to be timetabled about its new estates Dial-a-Bus was short-term project seeking out where people wanted to go to and at what times of the day.

The Bletchley terminus for Dial-a-Bus is still there today. Stand on Sherwood Drive and face Bletchley Railway station. Look to your left and see the incongruous slip road joining the main driveway. It is full of commuter parked cars. That was the Milton Keynes Dial-a-Bus southern terminus.

I don’t recall how I got involved but Milton Keynes Development Corporation paid a number of people, myself being one of them, to keep a transport diary for a week. This was also ton help plan future public transport needs.

Going out on our infant New City’s road any day of the week it was hard not to spot a London Brick lorry going about its business. Long gone ?  So have Sibley Haulage and Bletchley Coaches little brother Brian Baldry Haulage.

Riding along in my automobile

My baby beside me at the wheel

I stole a kiss at the turn of a mile

My curiosity running wild

Crusin' and playin' the radio

With no particular place to go

Thank you Chuck Berry. Or should we invite Paul Evans to sign off this chapter with Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat ?

Seven little girls sittin' in the backseat
Huggin' and a kissin' with Fred
I said, Why don't one of you come up and sit beside me ?
And this is what the seven girls said

All together now, one, two, three
Keep your mind on your driving
Keep your hands on the wheel
Keep your snoopy eyes on the road ahead
We're having fun, sittin' in the backseat
Kissin' and a huggin' with Fred

Drove through the town
Drove through the country
Showed 'em how a motor could go
I said, "How do you like my triple carburettor ?

Did your first car have a triple carburettor ? How many people in today’s New City of Milton Keynes have the slightest idea what even a single carburettor is !

MK Today - Monday 17th April 2023

Today I am inviting the media, such as it is within Milton Keynes, to get behind saving our dinosaur. In so doing I would like here to share the content of the complaint filed against Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Town Council and importantly within that complaint the plan t o rescue our friend.

This is a formal complaint against Bletchley and Fenny Stratford Town Council

I am filing such on behalf of those who have signed the on-line petition regarding the demise of Leon Dinosaur. (Please see enclosed.) I am also doing so in respect of former Leon School Headmaster Bruce Abbott, Milton Keynes Community Artist Bill Billings (Sadly both left us some time ago) and all Leon School Students who were involved in the construction of the statue.

The complaint is against Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Town Council as a corporate body and against all individual members  of the council.

The complaint relates to the demise of the Leon Dinosaur statue which has been caused by negligence on the part of Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Town Council.

Please find enclosed Leon Dinosaur Story and Demise which gives background information.

Throughout Bletchley and Fenny Stratford Town Council denied ownership and responsibility. After considerable investigation over a significant period of time I received notification from Milton Keynes City Council on 30^th March 2023 that Bletchley and Fenny Stratford Town Council has owned and been responsible for Leon Dinosaur for seven years. Please find enclosed copy of the letter confirming such. Within this it states the clerk has checked records and agrees ownership. Although this person and the council is fully aware of the campaign to save the dinosaur no communication has been made with myself.

The complaint is in two parts:

FIRSTLY: Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Town Council provided false information denying  ownership and responsibility for Leon Dinosaur frustrating and causing delay to the campaign seeking to save this item of heritage. This complaint seeks to put forward the fact that every member of the council has to be called to account for such.

SECONDLY: Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Town Council has overseen the demise of Leon Dinosaur disrespecting all those who were responsible for its construction and the statue’s place within our city’s heritage. Councillors whose role it is to represent the community have watched the situation develop without questioning and intervention.

Not part of the complaint as such is not within the jurisdiction of those invited to process such, I would like to place on record the fact that  Iain Stewart member of parliament for the location on which stands Leon Dinosaur ignored each and every communication sent to him seeking help to rescue this icon of heritage.

When this complaint has been processed and the above confirmed, on behalf of those I am associating with such I would invite all  members of Bletchley & Fenny Stratford to consider their positions. It is their responsibility to confirm who was behind false information being given and what action should be taken against such persons.

Moving the situation forward to rescue Leon Dinosaur and preserve its heritage for future generations; it is clear that given liability resting with Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Town Council this is not a responsible body to oversee such.

It is my suggestion that ownership of Leon Dinosaur be placed into the hands of a small group of trustees and removed from Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Town Council.

Given responsibility for the present situation Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Town Council must finance repairs and removal of Leon Dinosaur to a new location. I would invite the council to then make a yearly grant to the trustees to maintain the statue.

Given the thinking of Leon School Headmaster that the statue being located at the bottom of the school field would make it the first thing seen by train passengers from the South when entering Milton Keynes and the last seen when travelling in the opposite direction, there is only one place Leon Dinosaur can be relocated from its present position and that is to where Headmaster Abbott had it built. Co-operation and support from the present Leon School will be required but the burden of responsibility need not to be placed on its shoulders, such being with the trustees. I would ask the present school to celebrate all that Leon Dinosaur stands for and raise such celebration within the heritage of Milton Keynes.

Speaking on a personal note, as the original project co-ordinator I would like to see a plaque placed with the dinosaur acknowledging and thanking Headmaster Bruce Abbott for the idea, Community Artist Bill Billings for turning that idea into reality and all Leon School Students involved in the construction.

Leon Dinosaur has within its body a time capsule reflecting life in the 1990’s, this was put together by Leon School students. I would suggest to present students they put together a time capsule which could be buried adjacent to the dinosaur on the school field reflecting life in the 2020’s.

That now concludes this grievance and presentation which I will leave in your hands hoping for a satisfactory conclusion endorsing the complaint against Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Town Council enabling a positive way forward.

To add your signature visit: https://www.change.org/LeonDinosaur

MK Today - Friday 14th April 2023

When His Majesty recently visited Milton Keynes did he pay cash or use a silly ap on his smart phone to pay for parking ?

Three weeks tomorrow will be the coronation of King Charles III. Money is now being issued with his proudly on display. Will the reign of our monarch see the end of cash. His mother’s reign, that of our Late Queen Elizabeth II saw the ridiculous decimalisation of pounds, shillings and pence, saw the demise of the £1 note and paper money transformed into plastic.

In my book Milton Keynes The City Of Legend I talk about the role our city had within money. Let me now share that chapter with you:

Now here is a Milton Keynes Legend I bet none of you have ever heard of. Let’s see shall we.

TV comedy Birds of a Feather, first broadcast  in 1989. That’s before I wrote Not The Concret

e Cows ! Darryl Stubbs and Christopher Theodopolopodus are banged up for six years following an armed bank robbery. Where was their fictional bank robbery staged ?

Newport Pagnell ! See I said I doubted you had ever heard of that legend. Well now you know don’t you.

Newport Pagnell, are there any banks left in Newport Pagnell today ? Entirely by chance ahead of my writing this chapter I found myself in Queensway, Bletchley where I found that Barclays Bank has closed down and been kicked back into the bunk of history. When those fictional bank robbers were about they would have had the choice of two Barclays Banks, one either end of Queensway. (Since writing that paragraph even more banks have closed their doors !)

If armed robbers Stubbs and Theodopolopodus were to enter any bank, if they can find one that is, they are unlikely to find any money to nick. We live in a cashless society and that is not a good thing is it ?

Step aside from TV situation comedy and enter the real world. When banks used real money Milton Keynes was a vital part of the system operating that money.

Barclays had its area head office in Central Milton Keynes. Barclays Bank’s stationery department was to be found in Bletchley, just up the road from where the Bletchley Gazette had its office. All gone.

Up the road to Wolverton where you would find Maxwell Communications and Pergamon Press printing pension books and postal orders in a special security factory. All gone.

Over to Kiln Farm where there was a large unit sending out every day a fleet of vans to collect cheques paid into banks right across the region. Back in Milton Keynes these cheques were sorted and returned to their issuing banks. Nobody uses cheque today. All gone.

In the third decade of the twenty-first century large stores and supermarkets do not like cash. Why ? Because they have to pay someone to count the coins. It would appear that supermarkets do actually like pound coins which fit into their trolley locking devices. What will they do when pound coins are all gone ? Stick a silly smart-phone app in their place ?

Abbey National, now rebranded Santander, had its headquarters in Milton Keynes. Santan-whatever-it-is has just erected a new giant office block which complied completely with Milton Keynes Council’s deforestation planning strategy, no building shall be shorter than its surrounding trees. Nowhere near Santan-thingy to plant a tree anyway.

When the fictional Darryl Stubbs and Christopher Theodopolopodus were robbing banks how many banks were there in those adolescent years of Milton Keynes within the borders of our New City. Many more than we have today.

Roy Orbison, when was the last time you saw him walking up and down the penny arcade ?

Penny for your thoughts, shouldn’t that be a case today of tap your card on top of your head ?

Well in the days when money was real Milton Keynes was an important part in its cashflow.

One last thought. Alan Turing, when you and your mates finished cracking enigmas at the end of the day and you nipped into The Three Trees Pub for a pint or two did your code breaking machine have its own special app you used to pay the landlord ?

MK Today - Wednesday 12th April 2023

Allow me in this edition to share a personal experience.

WHERE PETS ARE FAMILY – That is a Milton Keynes statement.  It is the mission statement of Milton Keynes Vet Group.

From Whaddon Way Bletchley to Walnut Tree; from Willen to Water Eaton to Stony Stratford every surgery has those beautiful words at the centre of every pet consultation.

I love and support as much as I can our NHS, if I live to be one hundred I will never be able to repay the debt my family owes to our National Health Service. Vets are members of the Animal NHS, as with those working the human species they do not treat their patients but care for them. Vets and their nurses are special people who do what they do by way of a passion deep within their hearts.

Jake the Dog of Love was central to my family for eight years. He passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Tuesday 31^st January this year. Milton Keynes Vet Group operates a 24/7 service, just as does our NHS. Jake was admitted on Monday evening to Doggie A & E at Walnut Tree Animal Hospital. Overnight care is given there by Vets Now. I received a telephone call at six thirty the next morning, Jake was no longer with us.

Jake was physically wrapped in a blanket. On arrival at the hospital my wife Maureen and I were immediately wrapped in thick, warm blankets of love. Arrangements were made for Jake’s cremation. We were sent cards of condolence from MK Vet Group and Vets Now. We were sent seeds to plant in a memorial area of our garden. Where Pets Are Family – that is not an empty statement. It is true, 101% true. ALL staff within MK Vet Group are dedicated, loving people who do not treat their patients but care for them.

Without Jake our home was empty, without the love with which this beautiful little boy had filled it for eight years sadness was everywhere. Before Jake was taken ill we had started to support the RSPCA, on his passing I sent a gift to our local sanctuary.

Who put the R is RSPCA ? I bet you don’t know. R = Her Majesty Queen Victoria. The RSPCA was founded in 1824, that was actually before Queen Victoria ascended the throne and gave this new rescue charity its royal warrant.

Where is the RSPCA rescue sanctuary local to Milton Keynes ? It is Blackberry Farm at Quainton about thirty minutes drive south from our city.  I wonder how many people know that.

What does the RSPCA do ?  We’ve all hear of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals but what does it do ?  Rehome unwanted animals ? Actually no. Let me tell you Barnaby’s story.

Barnaby is a Patterdale Terrier who was born into evil ! Used with other dogs in the cruel, illegal sport of badger bating Barnaby will ill-treated with cruelty beyond anything you can possibly imagine. He was physically and mentally ill.

This came to the notice of the RSPCA which took away the dogs and began legal proceedings against those involved. These dogs were taken to Blackberry Farm where a full-time team of vets, nurses, animal behaviourists and others spent a whole year treating and caring for each little boy and girl. That is the work the RSPCA does.

With the case won staff began looking to find forever homes for these now happy little boys and girls. The way in which the RSPCA goes about this task is far more than simply rehoming. We were approached and asked if we would adopt Barnaby. This was very soon after losing Jake but we said we would.

I cannot believe that Barnaby was born into such evil but he was. He is a happy, very affectionate, well behaved and loyal boy who has made our home his own and filled it to overflowing with love. How can that be given his background ? That is easy to answer, the year he spent living at Blackberry Farm while the court case was pending the love of the RSPCA completely changed him. When he came to live with us he was on doggie anti-depressant pills. Leaving Blackberry Farm we did not simply wave bye bye and leave it at that, the vet team is still in contact checking on Barnaby’s health and condition. Vets, the animal version of our NHS.

We registered Barnaby with Milton Keynes Vet Group, taking him to Whaddon Way surgery we were hit with a wall of love and that is not an empty statement. The way we were welcomed and the care given to Barnaby during his check up was LOVE in block capital letters. It had to be experienced to be believed.

Do you know that nationally the RSPCA receives a call reporting animal neglect and cruelty every thirty seconds ? The way to call emergency services is to dial 999, the way to call help for animals is to dial 0300 1234 999. Make a note of that number for sadly there are many cases of animal cruelty and neglect in Milton Keynes.

Check out our local rescue centre at Blackberry Farm:

 https://www.rspca.org.uk/local/blackberry-farm-animal-centre

See if there is a pet there you could take into your family.

MK Today - Monday 10th April 2023.

Last Friday was the anniversary of my daughter’s kidney transplant. I was in California at the time. Los Angeles to be precise. Rebekah was too ill to travel and was on-call for a donor organ son it was her two brothers I had taken on holiday to the Golden State. After a long overnight flight I was met at Heathrow by a friend with the news that Rebekah had received a life-saving kidney transplant at London’s Guys Hospital.

I love our NHS. Beck was born with chronic renal failure which was diagnosed within Milton Keynes then infant hospital in the mid 1980’s. She spent her childhood in and out of Guys Hospital but it was Milton Keynes General Hospital that saved her life and began my love of our NHS.

When you next go into what is now University Hospital Milton Keynes, from the entrance look to your left and you will see a beautiful piece of art celebrating, and yes celebrating is the right work, our hospital does harvesting organs from patients who have passed away to transplant into patients like Beck and save their lives.

On Friday 21^st April I am meeting with the Organ Donation Team at our hospital and am looking to extend my love affair with our NHS.

Way back some thirty and more years I worked with Elizabeth Ward who founded then original kidney donor card. When her son Timothy, known as Timbo, died in Guys Hospital from Kidney failure she devoted her life to trying to save others in her son’s memory. My daughter was one such salvation. Mrs Ward predicted the day when organ donation would be natural, there would be no need for donation cards and the law would support such. That day has arrived.

Within the law it is now assumed that on death a person will donate their organs for transplantation unless they have said otherwise. That, however, is not the way it actually works and I am not sure it is right so to do. We need a far greater awareness of the need for organ donation and on the loss of a loved one the family needs to step forward rather than the medical profession approach the family. I am so eager to learn how this is now being done in our beautiful Milton Keynes Hospital.

Within the NHS we have Blood and Organ Donation, the two go together. You cannot give someone an organ transplant without a blood transfusion. I have tried to find out but without success so that is a question I will be asking at the meeting in two weeks time.

Rebekah passed away in May 2017. She was again under the care of our beautiful Milton Keynes Hospital.

Beck was always known as Little Miss Sunshine. I defy anyone anywhere to find a photograpah of her where sheb is not smiling. One of her biggest smiles I use within my book OUR REBEKAH A LOVE STORY FROM OUR NHS.

I have rewritten NHS from National Health Service to NATIONAL HAPPY SMILE.

If I live to be one hundred years of age, twenty-seven years come November, I can never hope to repay my family’s debt to our NHS. At the centre of that love is our city’s hospital. I do not yet known its organ donation statistics but I do know it uses six thousand pints of blood every year to care for its patients. The NHS does not treat patients, it cares for them and cares with love. It was Milton Keynes General Hospital that first wrapped that blanket of love around my daughter.

This edition of MK Today  is an introduction to Monday 24^th April’s feature. University Hospital Milton Keynes is not a transplant centre but it is a donation centre. Within my love for our NHS I want to help use my story to raise the profile of this special work.

Do visit our beautiful hospital and allow the artwork within its entrance to inspire your love of our NHS to a higher level.

MK Today - Friday 7th April 2023

Our city can be proud of its grid road system which enables ease of movement from North to South, from East to West or if the mood so shall take you from North to East and from South to West.

Did you know that legend says within the Strategic Plan of Milton Keynes Development Corporation there were three hundred and sixty-five roundabouts ?  One for every day of the year. I wonder how many there are today. These magic roundabouts ease movement across the grid system, the planners from those early days are to be applauded.

Here I want to look at two roundabouts: Coffee Hall Roundabout and Emmerson Valley Roundabout. Coffee Hall named after Coffee Hall Farm and Emmerson valley after Mr Emmerson’s dip in the ground !

Driving recently past Coffee Hall I was tempted to drive around the roundabout twice as I admired the beauty of the daffodils growing there. What was it William Wordsworth said about these beautiful spring flowers ?

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

I am sure he would have loved to have driven his car passed Milton Keynes Coffee Hall.

What was it George Orwell said about Big Brother watching you !

For every piece of beauty, both literal and metaphorical, to be found at Coffee Hall twice the evil of Big Brother can be found at Emmerson Valley Roundabout. The shrubbery has been decimated and replaced with litter. The trees have had their branches amputated. Now hideous, ugly morally apprehensible phone mast tower high into the sky. I hope all of our emergency services are on stand by ready for an aircraft filled with passengers hits one of these towers of evil.

A tale of two roundabouts.

How many people drove past Coffee Hall Roundabout and said: Just look at those beautiful flowers.

How many people will have their personal data hacked by users via Emmerson Valley Roundabout ? How many vulnerable people will be targeted by phone processing signals via Emmerson Valley Roundabout ?

Big Brother or Daffodils ? Give me Coffee Hall any day !

MK Today - Wednresday 5th April 2023

Dog licence, what is one of those ?  When was the dog licence abolished in the UK ? 1987, do the Maths and you will find that was thirty-six years ago. For those who were dog owners back then the licence was observed by not bothering, few ever went to the Post Office to hand over cash and legalise their pet.

Dog Owner – that is an expression I do not like. I do not own my Doggie Barnaby, he is a member of our family. A respected member of our family.

When Barnie Boy joined us as a rescue dog from the RSPCA he rescued my wife and I from old age. A young, active Patterdale Terrier, Barnaby needs four walks a day. Before joining us just the thought of a single walk was exhausting !

On those walks Barnie will do his business which is scooped up using doggie poo bags provided free of charge by West Bletchley Council. The contents are then deposited into one of the many, many poo bins to be found wherever we happen to be walking.

SO WHY THEN DO SOME MORON DOG WALKERS NOT PICK UP THE POO ?

WHO DO SOME MEGA MORON DOG WALKERS PICK UP THEIR PET’S EXCRIMENT, BAG IT THEN THROW SUCH ON THE FLOOR ?

WE THEN HAVE THE DOG POO GRAFFITI ARTISTS WHO THINK THROWING BAGS INTO TREES OR HANGING SUCH ON FENCES IS ART !

Bring back the dog licence, that is what I say. In order to have a licence doggie DNA must be registered. Poo offenders can then be located and arrested. Good idea ?

Punishment for dog poo offending ?  One thousand hours of dog poo picking using the offender’s bare hands. But then if the new dog licensing system works there will be no poo to pick up !

How many dog pets are there in the UK ? Thirteen Million, I have just counted them. (Well Mr Google has.) How many dogs live in Milton Keynes ?  Mr Google is unable to answer that.

Here is a dirct quote from Mr G: Established as an independent charity in 1992, The Parks Trust expertly cares for over 6,000 acres of beautiful and inspirational green space in Milton Keynes including parks, ancient woodlands, lakes, river valleys and 80 miles of landscaped areas along the city's grid roads.

Doggie Barnaby has widened my already significant appreciation of the beauty within our City. His and my favourite places include: Saint Giles Tattenhoe & Howe Park Wood, Walton Lake, Ouzel Valley Park. Why are there those who think that dog poo enhances the beauty of such iconic locations ?

Bring back the dog licence. I rest my case.

MK Today - Monday 3rd April 2023

Did you know it was way back in the seventeen hundreds that April Fool’s Day started in Britain ?

April Fool’s Day 2023 – that was three days ago so I am being a little tardy. Oh dear what a shame never mind !

1957, I was only six years old but I remember what has to be the best April Fool joke ever. The BBC broadcast a programme explaining a spaghetti shortage as the Spring was messing up the harvest.

1^st April 2023 was the last day in a nationwide litter pick. I signed up saying on my daily doggie walks I would collect five bags. In actual fact I picked up TWENTY-FIVE bags !

Walking round with my Amazon litter stick, excellent value by the way, I tried not to look at people as the last thing I wanted to project myself as was a do-gooder. A few people did over the days engage with me and every single one said something about my doing the job the council should be doing.

NO !  Everyone knows I am not a fan of Milton Keynes Cowboy Council but this is NOT where the litter is coming from ! Milton Keynes Council has a fantastic team of bin men and a sound recycling programme. Parish councils provide and maintain litter bins all the way across our city. The FOOLS, the IDIOTS, the MORONS, the XXXX HEADS who throw the litter on the ground are responsible.

The very first piece of writing I did about Milton Keynes was back in the 1970’s which the Bletchley and District Gazette published under the headline of DIRTY OLD TOWN – DIRTY NEW CITY. I revisited this in Milton Keynes The City Of Legends but revised the title to MILTON KEYNES THE SCRUFFY CITY.

Who are these fools who drop that which I pick up each day ? Pick up cigarette buts, vape boxes, sweet wrappers, beer bottle and cans with the occasional soft drink can. Balloons of the deflated variety I find each day, NO they are not left over from parties but from illegal drug activity.

What kind of society are we living in ? Who are these idiot fools who would destroy our city ? DESTROY WITHIN OUR CITY ITS FRAGILE ECO SYSTEM AND WILD LIFE ? If my litter picking has saved the life of one ant, one bee, one butterfly that insect is worth more than all the fools who tried to kill them.

What do you think is the greatest by number and by volume item I have litter picked during the Spring Challenge ? You’ll never guess !  Paper handkerchiefs and wipes ! Did we not learn anything within the pandemic about not spreading disease ?

NO Milton Keynes Council is not corporately responsible and most certainly is NOT an April Fool. However, war councillor Adam Rolfe and Milton Keynes South Member of Parliament Iain Stewart I would suggest deserve the title.  Prior to the Spring Litter Pick I contacted them and invited engagement with the terrible situation wrapping itself about our city. THEY BOTH INGNORED MY REPRESENTATION.

April Fool’s Day comes but once a year and there are those who will tell you the jokes end at noon. It seems to me that litter droppers are fools 24/7/365. So may I suggest are politicians who fail to engage with those who alert them to situations.

Yes, the Spring Litter Pick ended last Saturday. I am going to continue ever time DoggieBarnaby and I go out for a walk. If litter buggers operate 24/7/365 than those of us who are not such fools need to pick their crap up. (On the subject of crap I’ll be talking about doggie poo bags within the litter in a later edition of MK Today. Right now I’ve got to log in to Amazon and buy a new litter picking stick, the one I have is worn out !