Milton Keynes City Bid – how you can get involved

So many local people and organisations have backed the bid to make Milton Keynes a city, and MK Council want to keep that support going while the decision is being made. Milton Keynes is one of 39 places across the UK and British Overseas Territories applying to win city status, and we expect to hear a decision just ahead of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebrations in June. You can read the bid in full here.

What can I do?

• Follow MK Council on social media (@mkcouncil on Twitter and @mkcouncil1 on Facebook) and share posts promoting extracts from the bid. As well as memorable facts about MK, they’ll be publishing some of the many hundreds of entries received in the public photo competition and in the schools flag design competition. Please like and share your favourites.
• Post your own thoughts, facts or images that show why you want MK to become a city  – please use the hashtag #TeamMK.
• Businesses and groups – could you do something special that celebrates the bid and also says something about your organisation? For instance, you may have spotted Bletchley Park wishing the bid good luck by saying Fingers Crossed in Morse Code. What’s the equivalent for your firm?  Perhaps you could ask staff or customers what they think, or share their MK stories?  Could you display something at a building or back the bid on your newsletters or website?
• Come up with a Platinum Pudding (that also represents MK!) Fortnum and Mason is running a competition to come up with a Jubilee Pudding that will be served as part of the celebrations. All submissions should be made by 4 February. Full details are here: www.fortnumandmason.com/platinum-pudding. If your family, group or firm are entering, please take a photo of your pudding or recipe, post it on social media using #TeamMK. Extra points if it also has a MK theme! Perhaps your bake will include pancakes to represent the Olney Pancake Race, or fruit that represents the millions of trees growing in MK. Coffee flavour for Coffee Hall, vanilla beans for Beanhill, walnuts for Walnut Tree or pears for Peartree Bridge? Or use ingredients that were popular throughout Her Majesty’s reign (but particularly in 1967 when modern Milton Keynes was born).
• The Mayor of Milton Keynes is inviting students of primary schools to submit a drawing of their design idea for a ‘Platinum Pudding’ and for secondary school students to bake and send in a photo of their creation! The competition is also open to Cadet forces, Scout and Guide Associations. Find out more here.
• Plant a tree for the Jubilee. To show our wider support for the Platinum Jubilee, MK Council is planting 500 trees in public spaces for the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative. If you’d like to plant a tree in your garden or site, there’s useful advice on The Queen’s Green Canopy website.