Milton Keynes City Council’s have unveiled new parts to their arts and heritage trail, named Look Again.

The trail has been extended with eight information boards and over 20 additional artwork plaques across the city centre. The latest additions are being unveiled in time for this year’s Heritage Open Days, running from 12–21 September.

First introduced in 2024, Look Again is intended to highlight Milton Keynes’ modern heritage, art, architecture and design while sharing stories of the people and places that shaped the city.

The trail now spans across the city centre, covering the area between Station Square and Campbell Park. Each sign includes a QR code linking to www.lookagainmk.city where visitors can explore the history behind individual artwork, buildings, green spaces and the people who created them.

To mark the new phase of the trail, a programme of walks, talks and film events will take place throughout September, featuring contributions from All Flows organisers Pooleyville, local creatives and university students researching Milton Keynes’ design history. Later in the autumn, MK Lit Fest will host two author-inspired sound walks, with details to be published on the website.

Further event listings and booking information are available via the trail’s archive site: www.mkarchive.city.

Look Again has been developed by the city council, using funding from developers and in partnership with Buckinghamshire Archives, Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre and Living Archive Milton Keynes. The city council is encouraging trail users to share their feedback via the website to help shape the project’s future growth.

Cabinet Member for Planning and Placemaking, Cllr Shanika Mahendran, said, “We’ve got a unique story to tell here in Milton Keynes and Look Again is a brilliant way of helping people rediscover the city’s design, heritage and art. The new additions look really good and make the trail even more engaging. I encourage residents and visitors to take the opportunity to get involved and see the city from a new perspective.”

Milton Keynes Museum is set to welcome the return of its 1940s weekend over 6th & 7th September, promising a wide variety of activities to show the history of the time period.

Visitors will be able to step right into history, with all of the sights, sounds and events from the decade.

Home front reenactors will help younger visitors get hands on with some of the games from the era (not an iPad in sight), and over in the stables, visitors can watch vintage 1940s films and Pathe newsreels.

Storyteller Neil Storey will be in uniform and sharing ‘Tommies Tales’, joining Desert Rats re-enactors and USA GI’s, giving an insight into training for conflict.

Make-do-and-mend was standard during the thrifty decade, and in the Street of Shops, the cobbler will be fixing up shoes, while the grocer and butcher will show you just how much, or rather how little, rations entitled households to.

The sweet shop will be open for business too, with the museum promising that, “For those sweet-toothed cravers among you, no ration book required there!”

Over in the Museum’s cottage, Peggy Skivvy will explain what life was like for the home-makers while their husbands and sons were off fighting for King and Country.

A steam engine, and selection of smaller agricultural examples will be in the Museum grounds, where a small number of WWI military lorries and transport trucks will also be parked up.

The railways at War exhibition is also on track, and kids will be kept busy following the clues found throughout the Museum to locate Guy the Spy!

A selection of wedding dresses will show parachute silk in a new light, and fans of vintage fashion will be able to treat themselves with traders selling ’40s fashion for the ladies, including shoes and handbags, and vintage jewellery.

If military gear is more your style, you’ll be in luck, and the ‘latest’ in ornaments and nick-nacks will be ready to find new homes.

Animals and birds played a significant part in the wartime effort, and the Museum will be shining a light on the wonderful work completed by our feathered friends – many pigeons received the Dickin Medal for their bravery in delivering important messages which saved many lives, and some of those brilliant little birds completed tasks while injured.

The ever-popular Lola Lamour will invite you to go with the flow on the dancefloor, and Johnny Victory will sing for you from the bandstand.

If the weather stays fine, visitors will be eyes to the sky for a fabulous flyspast by a BBMF Lancaster (Sunday only) which is one of only two still flying.

With so much to see and do, you’ll need to top up your energy levels, and the Granary Tea Room will banish hunger pangs with a range of hot and cold savoury and sweet snacks.

The Museum bar will be serving a selection of beers and ciders, and while a pint won’t be at 1940s prices, you’ll not find a cheaper one for miles!

“Wartime was notoriously difficult, but there was also much to celebrate as people pulled together in the face of the troubles and uncertainty,” said Museum director Bill Griffiths.

“There is so much more to learn about the Warring Forties than simply the conflict – join us and prepare to be surprised,” he added.

Former MK Dons man Darragh Burns played a part as League 2 Grimsby Town pulled off a famous cup upset by knocking Manchester United out of the Carabao Cup.

The 23-year-old registered an assist and scored two penalties after the Mariners beat the Premier League giants at Blundell Park. Grimsby initially held a 2-0 lead that Manchester United pulled back to 2-2, before the Mariners won 12-11 in a penalty shoot-out.

Burns registered an assist for the home side’s opening goal, with Charles Vernam receiving the Irish winger’s cross before firing in a low shot that beat Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana to give the hosts a 22nd minute lead.

The lead would be doubled when a mistake by Onana lead to the ball being bundled home by Tyrell Warren 8 minutes later, after the former Inter Milan goalkeeper fumbled a Grimsby corner.

A game that then featured a heavy rainstorm would see the visitors claw their way back on level terms, as Bryan Mbuemo made it 2-1 before Harry Maguire’s equaliser in the 89th minute.

Manchester United would miss chances to win it, but with no further goals in 90 minutes, the tie went to penalties.

Burns scored with Grimsby’s second penalty, but it looked as though the tie was about to get away from the League Two side when Clarke Oduor saw his spot-kick saved by Onana.

With every other one of Grimsby’s 5 penalties scored, it meant a successful penalty by Matheus Cunha would see Manchester United book their place in the Third Round.

As it was, however, Cunha saw his penalty saved by home goalkeeper Christy Pym, meaning that the shootout was 4-4 after the first 5 kicks for each side and that it would reach sudden death.

Every other player would score, however, meaning after 11 penalties each with 10 scored by each side, the shootout carried on.

After each side scored their 12th penalty, this meant Burns would step up for a second time, and he would see his spot-kick beat Onana.

That would end up being crucial, as Mbuemo hit the crossbar with Manchester United’s 13th penalty, allowing Grimsby to win the tie and pull off a famous upset in the competition.

Grimsby will face Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough in the Third Round, with the South Yorkshire club having booked their place in Round 3 by pulling off their own upset after beating Premier League side Leeds United on penalties.

Burns had joined MK Dons in 2022, with the winger joining the Dons from Irish side St Patrick’s Athletic.

However, the Irishman struggled for game time with the Dons, making just 24 appearances in all competitions in two and a half years contracted to the club, with his last league appearance coming in February 2023.

After returning to Ireland on loan with Shamrock Rovers in 2024, Burns moved to Grimsby in January 2025.

A woman from Milton Keynes has been jailed for 12 months after pleading guilty to two counts of misconduct in a public office.

Former prison officer Aimee Duke, 26, of Stony Stratford, has been sentenced to twelve months in jail following the guilty pleas and a preceding investigation by Northamptonshire Police.

Duke had been employed as a prison officer at HMP Five Wells in Wellingborough in Northamptonshire.

After starting work at the prison in April 2022, Duke was the subject of a staff search on August 12 2022, whereby a piece of paper with one of the prisoner’s ID numbers was found in her purse.

Following the initial search, CCTV inside the prison was reviewed, which uncovered her interacting inappropriately with several prisoners.

This included being on wings of the prison she wasn’t rostered to work on, carrying her own bag onto the prison wing which was prohibited, and entering prisoner’s cells with no professional reason to do so.

Duke was arrested at work on September 23, 2022, with her mobile phone seized. Numerous SMS messages between her and one of the prisoners were found on the device, indicating an inappropriate relationship between the pair.

In one message, the prisoner wrote “I want us to be together 100%”. In another, Duke messaged him “I can’t wait to see you”.

Duke was subsequently charged with four counts of misconduct in a public office.  On May 1, at Northampton Crown Court she admitted two of the charges, but denied the other two offences.

She returned to the same court on Tuesday August 26 and was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for the two offences she admitted. A further two counts of misconduct in a public office were ordered to remain on file.

Lead investigator Detective Inspector Richard Cornell from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit said, “Prison officers are in positions of authority and unfortunately, Aimee Duke used her position to form inappropriate relationships.

“Her actions do not reflect the fact that most prison staff are law-abiding citizens who carry out their duties to the highest standards.

“I hope this sentence sends a clear message to those who seek to undermine public trust while holding positions of authority that inappropriate behaviour such as in this case will be robustly dealt with using the full force of the law.”