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Abdul Rais

Abdul Rais

The year was 1980 when I realised my life would change… I used to work as an IT consultant and I made up my mind that I was going to leave London and go somewhere cheaper.

I just happened to be going through one of the computer magazines during my break and I noticed a tiny advert about an IT consultant’s job in Milton Keynes. I had never heard of Milton Keynes and had no idea where it was but I just got curious and I rang up and got the job.

Abdul outside the Magistrates Court where he works as an interpreter

The thing that attracted me was that when I drove past the shopping centre I was fascinated with the structure of the building… After the interview I got the job offer and I was told that if you had a job the MK development Corporation would find you accommodation within 6 weeks or so and I found that quite attractive.

“I had never heard of Milton Keynes and had no idea where it was but I just got curious and I rang up and got the job!”

I moved to Netherfield and the size of the property was amazing, I was living in a little flat in London, so for me it was heaven!

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Anouar Kassim

Anouar Kassim

I happened to fly to Luton airport and then I caught a bus to go to Bolton. It passed through MK and I said “that’s wonderful”.

It had nice countryside and everything.

Amouar Kassim

My folks used to live in Bolton and the bus took me through MK. I said how wonderful it is and that it’s a breath of fresh air.

“I said how wonderful it is and that it’s a breath of fresh air”

The houses are designed differently – there was a lot of greenery and everything was environmentally friendly. Coming from Holland where I had stayed for a few years it was refreshing that there was a bicycle path – it was incredible!

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Chris Bridgman

Chris Bridgman

In the 1970’s my parents moved from Surrey to work for the Development Corporation, the organisation behind the visionary New Town of Milton Keynes.

A decade or so later I was one of the first babies to be born in its hospital.

Chris estimates there must be over 250 million daffodils in Milton Keynes!

My father worked in the Landscape Department and I was destined to follow in his footsteps, working in the horticultural industry. For the last 11 years we have been business partners operating from offices in our town.

“I love being from Milton Keynes and telling people all the great things about it. This really is the ‘City of Dreams'”

To me, Milton Keynes is the ideal location for me to grow and nurture our business, but that’s not all I’ve contributed. I have been educated in local schools, attended local clubs and from the age of 15 volunteered at thriving community events and productions, even performing as a Human Tree at the Millennium Dome for the Milton Keynes Our Town Story in 2000.

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David Lock

David Lock

I was a town planning student in the late 60’s and remember well when Milton Keynes started. All my town planning magazines were full of these ‘new towns’ coming, but Milton Keynes was always the loudest, always the brashest and always the most boastful!

It always got the headlines and was always on TV. I knew about it and watched with interest. So when I got the opportunity to work for the Development Corporation in 1977 I jumped at it. I brought my wife and 2 children up here from Tunbridge Wells which was a real cultural shock I can tell you! But it was so exciting – a book to be written instead of an old book; for a town planner this is the dream – the ultimate opportunity!

David Lock at work.

I was working for the strategic planning department at the time, which meant I was helping to decide what was going to be built next. What should the contents be for each new grid square, each new chunk. Housing, schools, shops, transport… all of it. Plus we also had to grow our community with Girl Guides, Boy Scouts and churches. Whatever you can think that would usually take 200 odd years for an ordinary town to form, MK had to do it very quickly.

“Town planning magazines were full of these ‘new towns’ coming, but Milton Keynes was always the loudest, always the brashest and always the most boastful!”

Now we need to think of the next step as we have a dilemma. Do we call it complete and stop dead? In which case, what about housing – where will people go? Do we roll out the familiar Milton Keynes line – another row of grid squares in every direction? Or my personal view is to see us grow baby towns a little distance away, which can be joined to Milton Keynes by little whizzy buses or whatever. That way we get to keep the countryside threaded through and we all prosper. Don’t squash us up like old industrial towns, that’s not what we’re here for.

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Ian Fenton

Ian Fenton

We lived in this house for about ten years. Our photograph was used as one of the main adverts to attract people to move here.

I’m the small boy in the photo with the Buck Rogers T-shirt, shoes the wrong way round because we had to run in to change out of dirty trainers!

Ian and his family revisiting the house from the advert

I remember the photograph being taken – the photographer came past and saw us in the garden and asked for our photo to be taken.

“I’m the small boy in the photo with the Buck Rogers Tshirt and shoes the wrong way!”

I was given a Mars bar as a reward. It’s a really nice area and a nice community when I lived here and it still is today.

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