Amazing event at MK Rose Launch today. I arrived to Bradwell Silver Band playing Amazing Grace and left to a wonderful solo rendition of it. The celebration of the different pillars was so good as different groups gave their take on their pillar. I particularly liked Red Bull Racing & Berni Marsden playing on the Pillar of Loud.Julia Uptons speech on International Womens day pillar was inspirational. Nice picture of me & Pete Winkleman at the MK Dons pillar. All in all we didnt notice the rain which testimony to the event the organisers put on. I feel immensely privileged to have had the honour of opening what will become the focal commemoration place in MK. Here is my speech to launch the MK Rose. Delighted to be here in Campbell Park with the spirit of Jock Campbell all around us. 21 years ago I sat in a factory unit in Stacey Bushes talking with other pioneers about the future of the city and how this new organisation we had just created would work. We were creating a new model of managing green space and one which nobody was sure would be sustainable. At that first meeting of the Parks Trust we set out ambitions for the use of green space in the city and one of them was to use Campbell Park as a focal point of the city. Today more than fulfils those ambitions. It is appropriate we launch the Rose on Remembrance weekend because a key part of the function of the Rose is to be a focal point for the community. But it is important to stress that this does NOT replace the existing War Memorials but complements them. Tomorrow I shall be at Newport Pagnell and there will be several other events around the Borough and it is right that those traditions continue. However for those of us who moved here and for whom our remembrance is elsewhere in the world this will become the place in MK for us to come to. But it is not just a war memorial it also commemorates many of the significant events & people in our history. It is not just for use on Remembrance Day but a 24/7 365 day a year opportunity to bring different communities & organisations together whether to remember or celebrate. Others, particularly Gordon, have highlighted the way the Rose will work so I will just mention 3 pillars which commemorate key events in MK & north Bucks history that have had world impact. They are 1, 16, 41 • John Newton and the story of Amazing Grace – a sermon preached on New Year’s Day in Olney and now the most sung song in the world – catalyst for the anti slavery movement. • Bletchley Park where the modern communication age began • Pillar of Loud - Jim Marshall’s amplifier which enabled bands and musicians to be heard across the world & I am looking forward to Bernie Marsden performing later We will all have pillars that we will like and pillars that we will wonder why on earth they are there. That is the nature of art – to hold a mirror to ourselves and ask the awkward question. To be controversial. As a city we have an abundance of public art. That is how it should be and this adds to it. You will question why such & such a person or event does not have a pillar – for instance there is no pillar for Oliver Wells of Bletchley for whom losing his legs in a railway accident only spurred him on to achieve things differently which is the ethos of MK. Great shout about it, create a campaign and maybe your cause will be recognised in years to come. You will see that not all the pillars are used and the empty pillars indicate that this is not a only a monument to the past but recognises that today, tomorrow and the day after that we are creating our own history. This city’s history is in front of us. We are on a journey and you need to look not just at the road in front of you but also to the horizon. My challenge to you today is which one of you here will inspire a future pillar? When this was first suggested some people scoffed but in typical MK fashion a group of people just got on & worked in partnership to deliver it. The Rose is more than the sum of the individual pillars and so was the group who put this together and have achieved together more than their individual contributions. The Rose will be used in future for things that the people who inspired it didn’t dream of so today’s official opening is not the end of the project but only a key milestone in the adventure that is Milton Keynes. Before I open the Rose I have a few people to thank. The Milton Keynes Cenotaph Trust who first came up with the idea of having a place of commemoration, celebration and contemplation in Central Milton Keynes; The Chair of the Trust, Debbie Brock, without whose drive and enthusiasm the concept may never have reached reality; The Parks Trust for making the site available and contributing significantly towards the construction costs, and for taking on the future management of the Rose site; Milton Keynes Council for forward-funding the bulk of the finance and providing significant officer time in administrative and professional support; Individual private and corporate donors, many of whom prefer to remain anonymous; The Royal British Legion, and particularly Mike Barry, the Chairman of the Buckinghamshire County Branch, who has served on the Cenotaph Trust since its inception; The Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire, Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, who expertly and diplomatically chaired the panel which chose the inscriptions for the pillars, and his colleagues on the panel; David Foster, Briony Fox and the staff of the Parks Trust who embraced the concept enthusiastically and have carefully managed the various contractual and technical arrangements; Several commercial organisations which have made their services and expertise available in the planning, construction and promotion of the MK Rose; Milton Keynes Community Foundation for contributing to the cost of today’s event; Mark Niel, Milton Keynes’ first poet laureate, for his frequent inspirational contributions to the progress of the development and for acting as compère for today’s event; Mk Commnity Arts Group and community groups performing today The children of Bradwell Village School, whose dreams of a better future are encased in the time capsule under the Rose; The many people who contributed to the public engagement exercise with their ideas for pillars; And last, but not least, Gordon Young and his team, for collecting the thoughts of the people of Milton Keynes and translating them into this fantastic depiction of the dates and events that are important to us. I now officially declare the Rose open for comment, use, debate, reflection, meeting & inspiring. This place is for all people of MK & north Bucks to use and enjoy.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 18:50:19 +0000
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