Forty years ago it was just a north Buckinghamshire village mentioned in the Doomsday book, but on the 23 January 1967 Milton Keynes was designated as the "new city and borough", conceived to accomodate exiles from and ease housing congestion in London 50 miles away, and chosen because it was equidistant from London, Birmingham, Leicester, Oxford and Cambridge.
 | | Launching the dawn fireworks display |
Famed, and often derided, for its roundabouts and concrete cows, whatever you think of the place it has been a success story, and is one of the fastest growing business districts in the country. Its population of 60,000 has now grown to nearly a quarter of a million and that figure is expected to double in 30 years. On 23 January 2007, celebrations continued throughout the day in Milton Keynes as the "new city" marked its 40th anniversary, starting with a dawn fireworks display at Bradwell Abbey and continuing with a thanksgiving church service, an exhibition with champagne and cake in the Middleton Hall, Centre MK and an evening party at the Milton Keynes Theatre with music, dancing and more cake and champagne! Passionate Not every one's a fan but the majority of people who live there are passionate about the place and Michael Synnott from the City Discovery Centre, said that the "new city" doesn't always get the credit it deserves:
 | | Celebrating at Middleton Hall |
"Milton Keynes is a very important landmark in the whole issue of city planning and city making" he said. "One of the reasons it's popular is that it still features as a case study of note in universities. But for all sorts of complex reasons it's somehow never found in the warmest part of the British heart which is a great pity." Shopping One of those people who does have Milton Keynes in her heart is resident Kerry Watson who also celebrated her 40th birthday on the 23 January. She said that she loves the place. "For me it's the countryside and the little lakes that we have and obviously the nightlife and the shopping" she revealed. "The shopping centre's great!"
 | | MK Prep School at the exhibition |
In the evening, the Milton Keynes Theatre was packed out and the enthusiastic audience was treated to a musical trip back over the past 40 years. Excellent Local unsigned band Six.Point.Five kicked off the night representing 2007, and were followed by Soul Selecta, fronted by the excellent Nicky Prince, who took us through the 90s and 80s. In between were the absolutely superb dance group Urban Strides. Led by Buckinghamshire's Andy Instone, they are one of the top hip hop ensembles in the country and have appeared at the Royal Variety performance and on stage with top artists such as Sean Paul. It was an exhilarating performance. In the second half Platform Soul got the audience up and dancing as they romped through the 70s, interspersed with young disco dancers and there was also a wonderful Bollywood dancing performance from ten-year-old Shona Shah. After the music and dancing everybody mingled in the foyer where they were treated to champagne cocktails canapes and birthday cake. The future Amongst the days celebrations, thoughts also turned to the future of the "new city" and what it holds. The Leader of the Council, Isobel McColl, wants to see more modern architecture. "I think there's some good modern architecture around in other cities and we're only just starting to do that in Milton Keynes" she said.
 | | Champagne and canapes at the evening par |
"I personally would like to see more of that but also have a choice, because that's not everybody's desire. We should offer all sorts of different housing for people to choose from and for people with a variety of incomes. We need to make sure that we meet the housing needs of everybody." Evolving Milton-Keynes born Andrew Hall from Kik Music, one of the organising partners of the party at the Theatre is also 40 this year. He is clear that for him, the 40th anniversary of Milton Keynes is not about really looking back over 40 years it's about looking forward? "What really excites me is the growth of Milton Keynes and how it's going to change and evolve" he explained. "That's more exciting to me - it's about the next 40 years and how we move forward from where we are. "I've got some good memories and some bad memories about Milton Keynes from the last 40 years but I know that I'm looking forward to the next!" | 
