A diversion is available through Allerford Court to Loxbeare Drive for people walking, running or cycling around the lake.

The diversion will be in place for two weeks and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

If you require any further information please contact our Community Rangers 01908 233600.

For weeks the people of Milton Keynes have been voting online for the films they want to see at The Milton Keynes’ Open Air Film Festival at Campbell Park.  Almost 6,000 votes were cast and from a shortlist of 18 films the winners are: 

Saturday 18 August – Action Packed Saturday:

1pm - The Incredibles

3pm - The Goonies

6pm - Indiana Jones – Raiders of the Lost Ark 

Sunday 19 August – Best of British:

1pm - Wallace and Gromit – The Curse of the Weir Rabbit

3pm - Mary Poppins

6pm - The King’s Speech 

Julie Dawes, The Parks Trust’s Events Coordinator, said: “Thank you to everyone who voted on our website and through our media partner, Heart FM.  This is a great family friendly line up for the Film Festival and where else but Milton Keynes could you see six fantastic films for free in a beautiful parkland setting.” 

In addition to the three free films per day on Saturday and Sunday the Festival, presented by The Parks Trust, opens on Friday 17 August with two fantastic Drive In Movies – the children’s animated film Cars and the classic crime caper, The Italian Job.  Tickets for the Drive In cost just £10 per car and you can book online or call 01908 255379 for more details. 

From canine companions to feline and feathered friends, reptiles and rodents – all creatures great and small are invited to a special service of thanksgiving for animals. 

The annual animal blessing service will be taken by Reverends Mindy Bell, Andy Jowitt and Allan Jones at the Cathedral of Trees on Sunday 20 May 2012, at 3.00pm. 

The service has been arranged to give special thanks for all the pleasure owners get from their pets and assistance animals and to celebrate their animals as a wonderful part of life. 

Rev. Mindy Bell said: “This is the fourth time this annual ecumenical service is taking place and over the years it has proved itself meaningful to those who have come.  We have had many kinds of pets present and remembered at the service.”  

Parking for the Cathedral of Trees is onLivingstone Drive, Off the V10 Brickhill Street.

The service is expected to last 30 to 45 minutes and will be undertaken whatever the weather so please come prepared for rain or shine.  All visitors are asked to be responsible pet owners and keep their pets under close control so that the service and the Cathedral can be enjoyed by all.

Our community pit stops will be at: 

The pit stops are a chance to meet The Parks Trust rangers, ask questions and pick up free goodies.  Dawn Morland, Leading Community Ranger at The Parks Trust, said:  “We organise the pit stops so that our park users know where we’ll be at a specific time.  It’s great to know what people think about the parks and to be able to help them with information and advice.”

The Walking Festival, organised by The Parks Trust, takes place over two days on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 May and offers fourteen different walks suitable for all ages and abilities. 

All of the walks will help you discover more about your local area and the specialist walks will encourage you to learn new skills or to meet new people. 

Specialist walks this year include two history walks and a photography walk.  There are also opportunities to see the newly renovated Iron Trunk Aqueduct, track the original footprint of Milton Keynes before the new city sprang into being or try out orienteering or Nordic walking. 

Simply check the list of walks available here and reserve your place. Each walk is guided by an experienced walk leader from the Trust or its partners including Reactivate Milton Keynes. Many of the walks are free, specialist walks cost just £1 and the orienteering walk is £4. Places on each walk are limited and must be reserved in advance. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Book online, call 01908 255379 or email events@theparkstrust.com to reserve your place. 

Milton Keynes Walking Festival is supported by Reactivate Milton Keynes.

The successful applicant will deal with public enquiries, maintain databases and records, undertake general administration work and support the Trust’s conservation activities. They will help the Operations team to work efficiently and effectively and ensure that it maintains excellent relations with its associates, customers and park users.

The post would suit somebody who has three years’ experience of administrative work, has worked in a public facing role, is highly organised, has excellent IT skills, obtained five GCSEs (at grade a-c, including English and Maths), has a full-driving licence and has an interest in landscape management and conservation.

Hours: Full time

Salary:  Depending on experience.  Salary range £16,000 - £24,000.

Closing date:  Friday 4 May 2012

Interview: Week commencing 28 May 2012

Job description – to view a job description please click here

To apply: please send your CV and a covering letter by Friday 4 May 2012 to Diane Liness, The Parks Trust, Campbell Park Pavilion,1300 Silbury Boulevard, Campbell Park, Milton Keynes, MK9 4AD or by email to d.liness@theparkstrust.com.

If you require any further information or would like an informal chat about the position, contact Phil Bowsher on 01908 255371 or p.bowsher@theparkstrust.com.

The Homes and Communities Agency, the successor body to the Development Corporation which set up Milton Keynes, transferred the land, made up of over 100 separate parcels, to The Parks Trust with an endowment of nearly £10 million that will be invested by the Trust  to provide income to pay for the maintenance of the land in perpetuity.  The sum transferred will enable the Trust to maintain the land to the same high standard as the Trust’s existing parks, such as Campbell Park, Willen Lake, Linford Wood and the Ouse Valley. 

Many of the parcels of land will greatly enhance existing parkland for residents of Milton Keynes. For example, at Atterbury the Trust’s new land will extend the Broughton Brook Linear Park and provide an extensive area of wetland habitat for wildlife; at Broughton Gate the play areas and  ‘circus’ open spaces will now be cared for by the Trust; at Middleton, between Oakgrove School and Milton Keynes village, an area of meadows and ponds have  been transferred and at Kingsmead South and Tattenhoe green spaces surrounding areas that are awaiting development for housing will now come under the Trust. 

David Foster, Chief Executive of The Parks Trust, said: “This is great news for Milton Keynes and for The Parks Trust. By transferring the land into our care, the Homes and Communities Agency have left Milton Keynes with a valuable legacy that will increase the city’s parkland and enhance the quality of its landscape. We care passionately about the city’s green spaces and this transferal is a real vote of confidence of our success in managing landscapes to extremely high standards. Our land holdings have increased year on year but this is by far the biggest land transfer the Trust has taken in one go since we were first established in 1992. Our landscape team including many of our contractors are rising to the challenge of this additional land and we are confident that we’ll have it all in good order within the next few months. 

“As the city continues to grow there are plenty more parks to be created and we look forward to working with the city’s developers and Milton Keynes Council to extend the network of high quality green space in the Eastern and Western Expansion areas, at Oakgrove, Newton Leys and Stanton Low.”

Major land parcels transferred to the Parks Trust: 

Broughton and Atterbury – Linear park extensions along the Broughton Brook and area of ponds and woodland to the east of Child’s Way, H6

Broughton Gate – formal ‘circuses’, play areas, and linear park extension

Middleton – green space containing meadows, paddocks and wildlife ponds between Oakgrove School and Milton Keynes village.

Shenley Wood – network of ponds forming a sustainable drainage system and surrounding landscape adjoining the Trust’s existing woodland and around the future development plots.

North Bucks Way – land along the footpath on the west side of Hazeley and Oakhill

Kingsmead South - green corridors of parkland with watercourses and ponds (sustainable drainage system) linking to the Trust’s existing woodland in the middle of the grid square

Tattenhoe Park – extensions to the existing Tattenhoe Valley Linear Park and new green spaces that will provide the parkland for the future housing developments in this area

Oxley Park – green corridors in the development containing ponds (sustainable drainage system) and children’s play areas

Monkston Park - additional green spaces adjoining the existing Ouzel Valley Linear Park

Ashlands – new formal ponds and incidental landscaping within the grid square.

The animals are a vital conservation tool, helping to manage large areas of grassland in order to create a much richer diversity of wildlife.  Their grazing deters weeds and scrub and encourages the growth of wildflower rich meadows. 

Initially the livestock will be grazing on the Trust’s land at Manor Farm, Woughton on the Green, Stones (between Woughton Park and Walton Hall), Wolverton Mill, Haversham/Stonebridge and Passenham.  Over the summer cattle and sheep will graze about 800 of the Trust’s 5,000 acres of parkland throughout the city, including the Ouse Valley, Ouzel Valley, Woughton on the Green and Shenley Toot. 

Rob Riekie, Head of Operations at The Parks Trust, said:  “We are in the process of installing signs to let people know when they are entering a grazing area.  Whilst our cattle and sheep are in the fields we are asking all dog owners, walkers and cyclists to continue to enjoy the parks but also to take special care when travelling through grazing areas.” 

The Trust’s cattle are chosen for their calm nature but can be curious, especially around dogs.  Farm animals, like all domestic animals and wildlife, can be sensitive to loud noises and sudden movements so dog walkers should keep their dogs on a lead and under close control within any grazing area. 

Rob added:  “Our cattle and sheep are a great, and green, way of managing our parkland.  They are good for biodiversity and can also reach the parts that more conventional mowing machinery would find difficult.  Having them in the fields is also a good way of bringing adults and children closer to the countryside.”

The Parks Trust is proud to be a part of the 'Summer of Culture' and to have several events included within this exciting programme taking place in Milton Keynes.  The 'Summer of Culture' begins in May when there are several sumptuous events taking place within the parks - starting with our May Day Festival on Saturday 5th May 12-5pm in Campbell Park by the canal.  There will be traditional folk dance and music on offer, along with lots of interesting stalls and canal boats.  The following weekend Milton Keynes' Walking Festival is taking place with lots of walks  place accross the city.  Later in May see our Art weekend as part of Art and Heritage open days.  On Saturday 19th we have an adult education course introduction to drawing and painting outdoors and our open air theatre production of Roald Dahl's 'The Twits' and a couple of Art Walks on Sunday 20th to keep your imagination flowing.

June is full of exciting activity with the parks starting with our celebrations for the Diamond Jubilee.  On Monday 4th June join us in the evening (time TBC) in Campbell Park for lighting of the beacon and return to Campbell Park on Tuesday 5th June for our Diamond Jubilee Garden Party 2-6pm where we'll have music performances and family entertainment including a performance by the fabulous Rock Chorus.  Great Linford Waterside Festival takes place on Friday 15th until Sunday 17th June where there is always lots to keep you entertained.

July is set to be the busiest month of the year for Milton Keynes with lots of activity taking place all over the city with many of our parks set to be most animated with the International Festival taking place on 20th-29th July culminating with The Parks Trust World Picnic in Campbell Park on Sunday 29th July.

August sees an exciting Cultural Olympiad project come to Milton Keynes.  Godiva Awakes arrives on Wed 1st August and stops off in MK and people can get up close to her in Campbell Park between 5 and 7pm.  Later in August sees our annual Open Air Film Festival on Friday 17th- Sunday 19th August and the people of Milton Keynes are currently able to have their say in what they'd like to see by voting on our website and through our media partner's website Heart FM.

The 'Summer of Culture' finishes in September with Heritage Open Places where The Parks Trust wil be having a Country Fayre on Saturday 8th September, come and see some country craft and see some parkland machinery.

For more information about the 'Summer of Culture' please see Destination Milton Keynes website, Facebook page or look out for the 'Summer of Culture' flyer across the city.

Hours:            3 days per week 

Salary:           Volunteer position

Closing date:  Monday 2 April 2012

Interview:       To be confirmed

To view a job description click here

To apply:  please send your CV and a covering letter by Monday 2 April 2012 to Diane Liness, The Parks Trust, Campbell Park Pavilion,1300 Silbury Boulevard, Campbell Park, Milton Keynes, MK9 4AD or by email to d.liness@theparkstrust.com.

If you require any further information or would like an informal chat about the position, contact Martin Kincaid on 01908 255376 or m.kincaid@theparkstrust.com.

Inter-Action MK, Woughton Community Council and The Parks Trust are asking people to release their creativity and put forward their designs for the dinosaur’s new makeover. Last painted in 2009 the dazzlingly gold dinosaur requires a new lick of paint and local residents are being encouraged to come forward with their designs.

There will be an exhibition of the shortlisted designs and residents of Milton Keynes will be invited to vote for their favourite. The winning design will be painted on the dinosaur.

To inspire budding dinosaur designers a number of dinosaur-related events will be held in the Easter holidays, including:

Dino Art Day 1pm – 4pm, Tuesday 3 April 2012

An afternoon of messy prehistoric fun making sock puppets, junk sculptures, papier-mâché and much more!

FREE and all ages welcome! Children under 8 must be accompanied by an adult.

Interaction-MK, Peartree Bridge, Milton Keynes www.interactionmk.org.uk

Design a Dino 10am- 12pm, Wednesday 4 April 2012

Discover more about our pre-historic past and create your own dinosaur designs.

Peartree Bridge Dinosaur, Peartree Bridge, Milton Keynes

Dino Eggstravanganza  1pm – 4pm, Saturday 7 April 2012

Bring the family along and take part in interactive art activities, hunt for dinosaur eggs and meet the Dino Diva’s.Voluntary donation on the gate.

Peartree Bridge Dinosaur, Peartree Bridge, Milton Keynes www.interactionmk.org.uk

Design a Dino 10am – 12.00pm, Wednesday 11 April 2012

Discover more about our pre-historic past and create your own dinosaur designs.

Woughton Orchard, Milton Keynes

Dino Art Day  1pm – 4pm, Thursday 12 April 2012

An afternoon of messy prehistoric fun making sock puppets, junk sculptures, papier-mâché and much more!

FREE and all ages welcome! Children under 8 must be accompanied by an adult.

Peartree Bridge Dinosaur, Peartree Bridge, Milton Keynes www.interactionmk.org.uk

All events are free and children must be accompanied by an adult.

To enter the competition just download a triceratops template from the website, complete your design, with your contact details on the reverse and submit your entry to Dinosaur Competition, Inter-Action MK, The Old Rectory, Waterside, MK6 3EJ.

Entries must be submitted by Friday 4 May 2012.

At the Open Day the Club, whose members range in age from 6 to over 70,  will be demonstrating their dexterity at clearing obstacles such as boulders, water, hills and logs at Milton Keynes’ only custom built trials’ course.  There will also be trials demonstrations on bicycles and the Auto Cycle Union, the motorcycling sport’s governing body, will be on hand to give help and advice on how to get into trials riding. 

Andy Martin, Secretary of Milton Buzzard, said:  “Anybody who is thinking about taking up trials riding should come along to meet the riders, view the bikes and get some friendly advice on the sport.  Trials riding is challenging to do and great fun to watch so the Open Day will be a terrific spectator event for families too.”  

Briony Serginson, Head of Community Engagement at The Parks Trust, said:  “We’re really pleased that the Milton Buzzards are enjoying their new facilities at Mount Farm and extend a warm invitation to members of the public who want to take a closer look at the course and this fantastic sport.” 

Parking is available at the Trials Park, located off the V8 Marlborough Street by the Mount Farm Roundabout. 

They'll be lots of hands on activities and the chance to take some creative crafty items home.

The event takes place on April 12th at the Tree Cathedral, Milton Keynes between 10.00am and 12.00pm or 1.00pm to 3.00pm. It costs £3 per child and booking for the highly popular event is essential

Children must be accompanied by an adult.  Book online or call 01908 255379 to secure your place.

Café in Campbell Park will open on Sunday 1 April 2012 from 12 noon until 4.30pm.

The café will be run by Annie Reeves and Mo Williams and will offer a menu of wholesome homemade cakes and light refreshments as wells as a friendly place to visit.

Established at the Cricket Pavilion, Campbell Park, off Silbury Boulevard, the café looks across the cricket green and the beautiful formal landscaping of the ponds and city gardens within the park. It will be open on Sundays throughout Spring and Summer. Parking at the Pavilion is free.

Annie and Mo, said: “We’ve visited the park many times over the years and always thought that it would be a great opportunity to run a café in the park. We love to bake and believe that our homemade cakes and freshly made sandwiches will attract a regular following of visitors to the park.”

Briony Serginson, Head of Community Engagement at The Parks Trust, said: “Sunday afternoons are a great time to get together with the family and spend some quality time together in the parks. Being able to enjoy a cake and cuppa is a great way to round off your visit.”

For further information, to view the café menu and confirm opening times on special holidays please visit www.cafeincampbellpark.co.uk

Briony Serginson, Head of Community Engagement at The Parks Trust, said:  “These improvements will allow us to encourage a wider variety of outdoor events and attract more high profile performers and performances to Campbell Park.”  

The existing stage will be removed and a new, larger oval stage will be installed.  This will have a permanent canopy overhead to shield performers and their equipment from rain and sun.  The plans also include creating a gabion wall behind the stage to provide screening and direct sound towards the audience.  The wall will be hand filled with locally sourced natural stone, and the back of it will eventually become covered in climbing plants including hydrangea, roses and winter flowering jasmine.  The existing low fencing and hedge at the top of the amphitheatre will also be extended in order to keep sheep from grazing on the terraced grass seating area. 

Briony added:  “A key benefit of the improvements is that we will be able to move virtually all music events from the events plateau, where the funfair is located, down into the amphitheatre, where we can better contain any noise.  The plateau will then be freed up for event car parking so when we have events fewer cars will be parked in residential areas.” 

The new amphitheatre has been designed by award winning Hinton Cook Architects based at Linford Wood, and will be developed by Jackson Coles Construction Consultants based at Caldecotte.  The main contractor will be Miletree Construction based in Old Wolverton.

Health and safety is fundamental to our business and integral to our success and reputation. This is a rare opportunity for the right person to join our senior management team and help us provide the people of Milton Keynes and visitors to the city with inspirational parks and thriving landscapes that are safe, accessible and fun. 

In a hugely varied role you will work across the whole organisation from ensuring our landscape contractors follow safe systems, use best practice and record and learn from any accidents, to seeing that our outdoor events are organised and run with due regard to visitors’ safety and enjoyment. You will routinely review the effectiveness of our health and safety policies and assess what changes might be necessary. You will guide and assist colleagues with the process of assessing and mitigating the risks of the wide variety of activities we carry out. 

You will look out for the safety of our 45 employees, our 100 contractors, our 200 volunteers; the thousands of participants attending our events, visitors using our parks, sportspeople using our lakes and sports pitches, children using our play areas, tenants renting our commercial properties, and anyone and everyone coming on to our land. 

You will need to be a coach, a guide and mentor to our staff and our contractors. You should be passionate and enthusiastic about the role that health and safety plays in our success and understand how critical it is to maintaining our outstanding reputation both as an employer and as a provider of high quality public open space. 

Whilst we will look to you to take the lead on Health and Safety matters you must make certain that everyone recognises the responsibility they have for ensuring no one is put at risk from any of our activities. You will need drive and energy.  You should be articulate and persuasive and at times you may need to be an enforcer.  A powerful advocate for health and safety, you will ensure our culture remains conducive to achieving the highest standards of health and safety management.  

Hours:                Full time

Salary:               Depending on experience

Closing date:     Monday 23rd April 2012

Interview:          w/c Monday 30th April 2012

Job description - to view a job description please click here

To apply:  please send your CV and a covering letter by Monday 23rd April 2012 to Diane Liness, The Parks Trust, Campbell Park Pavilion,1300 Silbury Boulevard, Campbell Park, Milton Keynes, MK9 4AD or by email to d.liness@theparkstrust.com.

If you require any further information or would like an informal chat about the position, contact David Foster on 01908 233600 or d.foster@theparkstrust.com.

All of the Trust’s education activities support the national curriculum whilst making learning outdoors truly fun and memorable. Nicky Saunders, The Parks Trust’s education co-ordinator, said: “For many children this is their first experience of getting close to nature. We hope every child leaves with a greater understanding of their local environment and how precious our parks and green spaces are.”

The quality award is made by the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom, and is designed to make it easier for teachers and community group leaders to identify providers of quality educational visits. This is the second award granted to The Parks Trust from the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom.

Nicky Saunders added: “We're thrilled to receive official recognition for the quality of learning experience we offer to young people and we look forward to welcoming even more children and young people from the local area to our parks”

Beth Gardner, Chief Executive of the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom said:

 “Educational visits are among the most memorable experiences in a child’s school life.  The LOtC Quality Badge offers teachers a guarantee that The Parks Trust is providing the sort of educational value that they can build on in class long after the visit. I congratulate The Parks Trust on being awarded the LOtC Quality Badge.”

Julie Dawes, Events Coordinator at The Parks Trust, said:  “The current world record was set by Malbank Secondary school, Nantwich in 2010 with 2,737.72m of bunting or 1.7 miles.  We’re aiming for 12,500 triangles (or 2.5 miles) so if every single child in MK makes just one triangle then we would beat the previous record by miles! 

As it’s the Jubilee year the Trust is asking for bunting to represent the commonwealth countries of the world; this could be flags of commonwealth countries or pictures depicting the different country’s culture, national animal, sport etc. 

Bunting flags should be sewn onto bias binding tape leaving 40cm clear at each end of the tape so that it can be attached to the record breaking attempt.  You can download a bunting template here and further instructions here. 

All entries should be handed into The Parks Trust Headquarters at Campbell Park Pavilion by Friday 25th May 2012. The bunting will be exhibited for everyone to see in Campbell Park on Tuesday 5th June 2012 2-6pm at The Parks Trust’s Diamond Jubilee Garden Party.

The Parks Trust commissioned the market research to find out how people use their parkland, what they feel about it and what they would like to see improved or different about it.

The research showed that 94 per cent* of people questioned think that their parks are well maintained; nine out of ten said that they valued them and 60 per cent were able to name an inspirational park.

The most inspirational park was Willen Lake North, followed by Willen Lake South, Campbell Park, Furzton Lake and Caldecotte Lake.  Over half of respondents, 56 per cent, visit a park at least once a week.  The main reasons were for walking (31 per cent), a family outing (20 per cent), walking the dog (17 per cent) or visiting a children’s play area (nine per cent).  Other popular reasons were cycling, running or attending an event.

Three out of ten have experienced a “special moment” in a park, including celebrating a milestone birthday, going on a date, making a life-changing decision, falling in love, and proposing to someone or accepting a proposal.

David Foster, Chief Executive of The Parks Trust, said:  “The Trust is celebrating 20 years of caring for the parks so it’s really encouraging to know that people value them and think they are well looked after.  We invest almost £5 million a year in them and this is all funded through our commercial property and investments – making the parks completely free for residents and visitors to use.”

The survey also revealed that people would like to see more dog bins, litter bins and toilets, as well as more maps and information about the parks on signage.   

David continued:  “It’s very helpful to see people’s suggestions and some of them are already being addressed. We’re installing new signage which includes maps and information about what you can see and do in our parks and we actively work with parish councils who wish to put in dog bins.  As a self-financing charity all our expenditure has to be carefully considered for its total benefits to enhancing and maintaining the parks and we have long term plans to introduce new features and facilities that meet the needs and aspirations of residents and visitors.”

The research was undertaken by Stony Stratford based market research company, Start Up Research.  They held focus groups, conducted face to face interviews with 613 Milton Keynes’ residents in parks and in locations around Milton Keynes and analysed responses from 122 people who completed an online survey.  Further technical information on the research can be obtained from chris.brookes@start-up-research.co.uk.  

Hours:            3 days per week 

Salary:           Volunteer position

Closing date:  Monday 12th March 2012

Interview:       Thursday 22nd March 2012

To view a job description click here

To apply:  please send your CV and a covering letter by Monday 12th March 2012 to Diane Liness, The Parks Trust, Campbell Park Pavilion,1300 Silbury Boulevard, Campbell Park, Milton Keynes, MK9 4AD or by email to d.liness@theparkstrust.com.

If you require any further information or would like an informal chat about the position, contact Martin Kincaid on 01908 255376 or m.kincaid@theparkstrust.com.