I’m 69 years old and reside in Bletchley , Milton Keynes since 1980.
Meeting my husband is the best thing that could have happened to me. I am from Guyana, South America.

My husband joined the British army whilst they were stationed there in 1964, the Devon and Dorset regiment. So I was able to travel with him to various countries including Malta, Ireland, West Germany and several postings within the UK.

Lynne Bennett

In 1980 we decided to move to MK as the houses were affordable and not too far from London. We have seen many changes during this time and now it’s a beautiful place to live. Very clean, lots of walk ways, roundabouts which makes journey easier to navigate.

I brought my company here in the mid seventies. We were in London and expanding but couldn’t afford it so I thought Milton Keynes would be a very exciting place to grow a company and a family.

It’s been wonderful! I remember taking a group of people to what is now the MK shopping centre when it was just fields and saying to them ‘we’ll have something like Oxford Street under glass here’. It’s not turned out quite like that but it’s very successful.

Malcolm outside the communal buildings in Milton Keynes

I’m now involved with a group of people who are 55 and older who want to live in a communal setting when they get older and in buildings that are designed in such a way that there can be communal activity.

I mixed the cement to build the Peace Pagoda.

Every day I went to Bletchley market to pick up cauliflower leaves and cook for the monks who were also helping.

The Peace Pagoda in Milton Keynes that Maruta helped build.

On the day of the official opening of the Pagoda it was so windy and so cold, everyone was freezing. It’s important for everyone. Milton Keynes is international with all sorts of people.

Dad passed away about 10 years before we moved over. Mum wanted a quieter life and here we are….it was a little bit unnerving.

I didn’t know what was going on but I was all ready for the move.

Milesh at home in the kitchen cooking up some delightful cuisine.

My Dad’s dream was to open up a restaurant. My dream is going into Indian street food. Probably bring a cart over from India and take it around to do lunches, events, who knows, Latitude or Glastonbury, you’ll see Guju Kitchen parked up selling Dosas, Pakoras, street food from Gujarat.

I arrived at Milton Keynes in 1983, ready to start my job at the Open University. When I got here I couldn’t drive. My boyfriend was ill. I’d just had a big row with my boss. And the town centre was bleak!

There was nothing going on between the shopping centre and the railway station – just streets. It was utterly bizarre, and I was miserable. This new town and its infrastructure had been built, but there were no buses or anywhere to go to! But in time, my boyfriend got better and became my husband.

Monica enjoying working at The Open University

We brought a house in Bletchley. The buses started running, which we used a lot – we didn’t leave home without a bus timetable and the map of MK. I became a real fan of Milton Keynes in those first 3 years – it was so different than anywhere I’d been before. After that, we decided to move to the country so brought a house just outside Olney where we still are now. We love it there as you have the best of town and country.

I was born in Ghana but grew up in The Gambia. I moved to Milton Keynes with my husband in 2007 after heading up the Children, Youth and Drama departments at the Gambia TV station and also setting up the country’s first independent film and TV production company.

I believe in placing the power to tell stories in the hands of the marginalised. I think sustainable development can only be achieved through the triple bottom line of economic growth, social equality and environmental protection. To achieve this I run several projects in Milton Keynes, including setting up a website called the MKMIX which would provide a platform for networking, education, collaboration and information sharing between community groups, statutory bodies and various organisations in order to support the development and cohesive aspirations of Milton Keynes.

I am also a Ward Councillor with Campbell Park Parish Council.

Nana Oguntola in action at Junior Filmmakers in Milton Keynes.

One of the projects I run is Junior Filmmakers (JFM) which I started in 2014. We’ve worked with over 400 young people to teach them basic filmmaking skills. We work with many children from low income families who would otherwise be excluded from the opportunity to learn the new skills and develop communication and collaborative skills that Junior Filmmakers provides.