June 2024
As part of our 10th Anniversary Celebratory Year for the Milton Keynes Rose on Saturday 15 June from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM at The Event Space, Milton Keynes Central Library, we are holding an archive collection event to gather and preserve memories and memorabilia related to the Milton Keynes Rose. Everyone is invited to come along and bring photographs, saved newspaper articles, postcards, any objects related to the Milton Keynes Rose or to share your memories of the Milton Keynes Rose and contribute to this important archival project.
The aim of the archive collection event is to support an archive that will be held by the Living Archive Milton Keynes, and we are delighted that Mark Niel, Milton Keynes’ Poet Laureate has written a poem for us titled The Story So Far – see below.
If you have memories and memorabilia relating to the Milton Keynes Rose, come along to help celebrate 10 years of the Milton Keynes Rose.
The Story So Far
For the MK Rose in 2024
This is our Peace Garden
Our sacred space
Our standing stones
And Amazing Grace
This is our stage
For music and dance
For jokes and jazz
Shakespeare and Romance
This is our Remembrance
Of the brave and bolder
Of Bletchley Park
And local boy soldier
This is our Celebration
Of calendar of Days
Of Winners and achievements
That truly amazed
This is our vigil
Our lone grief or unity
Our solidarity
And sense of community
This is our history
Our present day too
As we write new chapters
We need your memories too
Of events attended
Whether joyful or sad
The sombre and zany
The serious or mad
What made it special?
We need it explained.
Please don’t mention the weather
(It probably rained!)
Mark Niel
Milton Keynes’ Poet Laureate
May 2024