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Summer fun with a new free smartphone app created especially for MK – Discovering MK

Discovering MK is a new smartphone app launching on 31st July 2017. Celebrating MK’s 50th birthday year, the app encourages residents and visitors to get out and explore Milton Keynes, discovering the places and spaces that make this city unique.

Inspired by the Pokémon Go craze, the Discovering MK app reveals an interactive trail of 50 hidden gems around the city.  At each location along the trail, you can unlock information about the landmark, challenge yourself, your family and friends to a fun mini quiz and upload a ‘selfie’ to show you are there.  With a range of competitions and prize draws through the year, we hope you join in and share your selfies on social media.

Developed by Arts & Heritage Alliance MK (AHA-MK) and MK21, the free app, available via Google Play and Apple Store, commemorates Milton Keynes 50th Anniversary and celebrates this unique and diverse city.

We have been able to produce this app for free due to the support of various funders.  This includes a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) Sharing Heritage grant, awarded to AHA-MK.  This exciting project, Discovering MK, created especially for Milton Keynes has been given £9,000 to develop this app with a cohort of volunteers, to showcase the heritage and landmarks of the city.  AHA-MK thanks National Lottery players, who make HLF grants possible.  Milton Keynes Community Foundation, MK Council and Santander Cycles have also supported the project generously.

Francesca Skelton, Chair of AHA-MK said:

We are delighted to launch this exciting new app inviting residents, families and visitors to share our Discovering MK adventure this summer.  The app features both known, and more hidden, modern and historical landmarks that tell the story of contemporary Milton Keynes and its heritage. We hope you all have fun!

Perfect for family days out and summer fun, the app can be completed on a leisurely stroll or a fast pace cycle ride using MK’s extensive network of redways and the Santander Cycles MK scheme.

You may not realise it, but there are so many unexpected surprises in Milton Keynes. To uncover them all, the trail is split into five areas, exploring Milton Keynes’ modern and heritage buildings, rich history, iconic public art and blooming woodlands and parks.

The challenge has been set – can you unlock all 50 landmarks around the city?

You can share your journey on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using #DiscoveringMK.

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Discovering MK

MK50 LOGO

Milton Keynes 50th

2017 will mark the 50th year since Milton Keynes was officially designated and to celebrate, MK plans to host city wide events and activities that will be open to the local residents and visitors alike.

This is a special milestone for Milton Keynes, not just because it has been 50 years, but also because some of the major contributions that the city has made over the past half-century.

Milton Keynes is centre to some of the World’s most important discoveries. It is the home of some very influential pioneers, visionaries, artists and it holds significant Heritage that has helped shape our world in ways that you may not know.

From the WWII Code Breakers of Bletchley Park right through to the set location of iconic films such as Superman IV, Milton Keynes is a treasure trove of innovation, historic relevance and celebrity stopping place; the city is bursting with heritage & culture that deserves to be recognised.

Discovering MK, The Digital Landmark Trail

MK Views
Image Source: Milton Keynes Council Website/Homepage slides

 Amongst the many exciting activities set to take place next year, AHA-MK and Partners are in the process of developing an innovative project that will be unlike anything the city has seen yet – A Digital Landmark Trail focusing on 50 of MK’s most iconic landmarks to date.

What is special about Milton Keynes? Some would be inclined to ask such a question; others dismiss it as a city with one to many roundabouts and a shopper’s paradise, but hidden behind the misconceptions lies a City with a remarkable heritage and cultural scene.

Discovering MK aims to showcase this and will take participants on a fascinating tour around the City, stopping at some of MK’s most characteristic landmarks and informing them about its impressive history along the way.

Discovering MK will be a fun filled trail with lots of occasions that the whole family will enjoy, but rest assured individuals of all ages and backgrounds can join in on the fun too.