20 Fishermead leaders, residents and former residents met to plan activities for the 50th birthday celebration on Sunday 2nd July – updated details here.

More than 100 Fishermead residents and leaders of local civil society institutions – churches, mosque, schools and other community groups – attended a meeting with the Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire, The Countess Howe, hosted by the Chinese Overseas Church Mission (COCM) on Padstow Ave. They wanted to know if she could help them get a visit from the Royal Family later to celebrate the estate’s 50th birthday later in the year.

This followed an assembly with the High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire three months ago to celebrate Fishermead’s successes and talk about plans celebration (see photo story).

The evening began with a warm welcome to COCM from Rev Henry Lu and (above) an introduction from Fola Komolafe, MBE, President of MK Community Foundation (below) .

Then Lady Howe (below) told residents about her role as Lord Lieutenant and what had it been like for me so far.

Ophelia Cole of Action Speaks introduced Alix Saunders (below) , Enhanced Practitioner at Pebbles Children Centre, who talked about what her Centre had learned about early years education. She was surprised by the loudness of the timing bell (rung by Derek Bayley of Trinity Centre)!

There was more excitement when Jubilee Wood Primary School choir (below) thrilled the audience with a Cornish sea song (relating to all Fishermead’s streets being named after places in Cornwall).

Then Mike Kelly of MK Samaritans and Clare Doughty of Salvation Army Lifehouse talked about what they had learned about supporting mental health and wellbeing.

In a show of great personal kindness, young Muhammed of MK Gallacticos Football Club (above) won the keepyuppies football contest in front of the audience – by 100 touches! – and generously shared his £30 cash prize with the two other contestants.

Badr Zamaan, representing local shop Sabeeh Mini Market (above), explained why Fishermead is unhappy with its reputation and said ‘If a Prince comes to Fishermead, who can say it is not safe here?’

then Ursy White (above) outlined plans for about Fishermead. She told the story of how the alien Zarina landed at Fishermead’s junior school one night in 1988 and enthralled the pupils for several weeks and explained the plan to both screen a film of that project and make another film about ‘Fishermead landings’ with today’s residents in May-June this year.

Various leaders then explained why they wanted a Royal Visit for Fishermead: Rev Ian Herbert of Trinity Centre Anglican Church (below);

Matt O’Brien, Headteacher of Jubilee Wood Primary School, which has 530 pupils and 70 staff, (on video link and pictured below) ;

Nana K of Xtrim Hair and Beauty salon (below),

and Benson of Freestyle Cosmetics Salon (on video link) (below):

Maria Affa of the Make Good Better Breakfast Club (below) ;

Cllr Zamzam Osman of Campbell Park Parish Council (below).

Then the Lord Lieutenant was presented with a small gift (from the Zarina Project) (below)

and gave her reaction to what she had seen and heard during the evening, how positively it made her think about Fishermead, and how pleased she was that the process for requesting a Royal Visit was underway (although she didn’t have the power to actually make it happen). Countess Howe pledged to return to Fishermead on 2nd July to present awards at the Fishermead 50 celebration party (below)

and received a loud round of applause.

The assembly ended off with positive comments from its co-chairs – David Hart, Pavle Trajkovski, Ophelia Cole and Ruth Legh-Smith – and a call to action for residents to attend an open planning meeting on Thursday 9th March for the celebration event on Sunday 2nd July.

Then Fishermead resident Harold Sharpe MBE, Headcoach of Special Needs Units Gymnastics (SNUGS) showed the medals won by his daughter Jennifer in world competition.

And finally, there was a wonderful display of Bulgarian dancing led by Krasimira Valcheva (below).

In post-event evaluation, participants said they felt ‘positive’, ‘inspired’ and ‘uplifted’, and rated the event 8.5 out of 10, with points lost for a lack of turnout from senior staff in local schools.

125 Fishermead residents and guests filled Trinity Community Centre for a celebration assembly and meeting with powerholders including the Mayor of Milton Keynes (2nd from left below) and High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire (far left below). 

The assembly was organised by a group of Fishermead residents and workers who are building a citizens alliance of Fishermead institutions as part of a Community Organising project funded by MK Community Foundation. (Hear Assembly audio recording.)

Their goal was to strengthen relationships with powerholders and get pledges of support from them for the idea of a royal visit to celebrate Fishermead’s 50^th birthday next year.

In 1973, the first house was built in Fishermead. Today there are 1,400 households and a proudly diverse community. One thing residents are not proud of is Fishermead’s reputation, which they think is unfairly negative.

Cllr Amanda Marlow, Mayor of MK, told the Assembly: “When MK was founded, the builders moved in pretty early to start building Fishermead. So many of you are original inhabitants of Fishermead, which makes such a difference.  You are encouraging people to stay and to grow their families here and to make a difference to future generations.”

Awards were presented to Fishermead heroes, including The Co-op store staff and security guard Abdul; the Landscaping team of Campbell Park Parish Council (collected by Council Chair, Terry Baines); and PCSO Craig Hawksworth.

Following video testimonies from the children of Willows First School, in which they described all the things they liked about Fishermead, there was a breakdancing display led by Kevin Kallon (bottom right below), who grew up on Fishermead and now runs breakdancing classes at Trinity Centre on Monday evenings.

Young football players of MK Galacticos FC took part in a ‘keepyuppies’ contest, with the £30 cash prize going to winner Mohammed.

Then the choir of Jubilee Wood School sang ‘Count On Me’ while the Royal Visit Petition signatures were counted.

Assembly Co-chair David Hart then announced the total number was 580 signatures (representing nearly half of all Fishermead households). The High Sheriff later described this as “an incredible community building initiative”.

12 Community leaders, including Willows First Headteacher Jo Orbell and Parish Council Chair Terry Baines, took turns to say what it would mean to their institution if a royal visit could be arranged.

Badir Zamaan Mustapha, representing the owner of Sabeeh Market shops on Gurnards Avenue, lifted the roof when he said: “What we must do together is slay the Fishermead reputation dragon and rescue the princess of real Fishermead!”

Then High Sheriff Debbie Brock responded with details of what next steps would be required.  She emphasised the importance of acting quickly to get a chance of a royal visit next summer (see transcript of High Sheriff’s speech) and pledged to contact the Lord Lieutenant stating her support for the idea. “It’s been really inspirational,” she said.

(Afterwards, the High Sheriff wrote: “It was spectacularly well attended with great contributions and real vitality. The collection of signatures was a great community building exercise in its own right and it would be great to keep them as a real public record of the support for the visit and celebrations”).

The organising team is appealing to Fishermead residents to add their signatures to the Royal Visit Petition online (if they haven’t already signed the paper petition) and get involved in preparations for Fishermead’s 50th birthday celebrations in 2023.

A short group evaluation immediately after the Assembly gave a score of 8/9 out of 10, noting the absence of the Headteacher of Jubilee Wood Primary School and insufficient audio amplification. One participant said: “The children were amazing, I would never have dared to do what they did tonight when I was their age, and the people who came with them.” Total turnout was 125 people.

For more information, contact Community Organiser Tom Bulman, fishermead@citizensuk.org, 07962 838685.

Thanks to Sagar Kharecha for photography (up to 7pm) and Maria Affa and Derek Bailey (below) for refreshments.

Other photos from the evening

(Main picture above shows Sophie Richens of Fishermead Trinity Centre.)

The picture below shows Rev Ian Herbert of Fishermead Trinity Church presenting the award to Sharona Edwards, collecting on behalf of The Co-op Convenience Store, three weeks after the Assembly (thanks to Ruth Legh-Smith).

Five leaders from four Fishermead institutions visited four others on another sunny day in Fishermead. Those giving short talks at their institution’s doors were: Mike Kelly, Director of MK Samaritans; Jo Orbell, Headteacher of Willows First School; Clare Doughty, Assistant Support Worker at the Salvation Army Life House; Don Mahon, Treasurer of Fishermead Trinity Church; and Gonzalez, Deputy Manager of The Coop Convenience Store.

After the walk, Clare (pictured outside the entrance to Life House above), wrote, “How great it was to get to know you all and hear your interesting talks about each institution”, and reached out to offer marketing support to Mike and metal fabrication support to Don.

A Community Walk part 3 is being planned for September.

23 Fishermead residents and workers representing 12 institutions attended an Accountability Assembly to engage with local Councillor Donna Fuller (top right of main picture and below).

Following a live BBC Look East broadcast from the Trinity Centre earlier in the week, they wanted her reaction to their agenda for change developed at a Delegates Assembly in March.

The Assembly was hosted by the Chinese Overseas Christian Mission on Pentewan Avenue, Fishermead, and began with a welcome from Eric Shan Lin (above) followed by a moment of silence in memory of local Cllr Carole Baume, ‘a special kind of politician’ who recently died.

Representing the local Council electoral candidate from the Labour Party, who was unable to attend, and in the absence of Conservative and LibDem candidates who had also been invited, sitting Councillor Fuller was asked to respond to a series of questions about Road Safety, Crime, Community and the Environment (see below).

Councillor Fuller responded positively to all the asks and pledged to work with the developing Fishermead Citizens Alliance to achieve its goals. She said: “For me this is about building a relationship with you. I am more than happy to represent and advocate for you. I just need you to tell me what you need. I personally commit and (if she is elected) I am sure Amber will too.”

Cllr Fuller’s support was welcomed and it was agreed there would be follow-up meetings with her.

In post-event evaluation, leaders gave a score of 8 out of 10.

Hear audio of the Assembly (with thanks to Eric).

(Photos by Zdenka Mgbolu.)

The Asks

Road Safety

• How would you be able to engage with your local supporters to assist with the petition
• campaign to ensure we gather as many signatures as possible?
• If elected how would you support the campaign on the local council?

Crime

• If elected, how would you make crime reduction on Fishermead a key priority?
• How would you support the establishment of a local shopkeepers forum to share

Community

• Would you commit to meeting the community at the breakfast club on a monthly basis?
• When we have identified a long-term solution for managing a community café, would you commit to support in any areas we encounter difficulties?

Environment

• Will you support local initiatives (clearing up footpaths, organising a community garden, landscaping) on Fishermead both financially and logistically?
• Will you make the maintenance of Fishermead (landscaping, waste removal, street lights, roads and pavements, proper signage) your priority by facilitating the communication with different authorities and advocating on our behalf?