His Royal Highness the Earl of Wessex KG KCVO, Prince Edward and the Director of MKCDC, Henk van Aswegen

The Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre, based at Bradwell Abbey, has been awarded this prestigious educational award for their work in heritage and geography education. The Chairman of the Trust, Prof David Lock, CBE and the Director of MKCDC, Henk van Aswegen, attended the awards ceremony and celebration on the15th February 2010 in St. George’s Hall, Windsor Castle. The awards were presented by His Royal Highness the Earl of Wessex KG KCVO, Prince Edward. Windsor Castle was also one of the winners of a Sandford Award for this year.

In 2009, 62 heritage sites across the UK were awarded a prestigious Sandford Award. This award, jointly managed by Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln and the Heritage Education Trust, recognises heritage sites which have achieved excellence in heritage education through work with schools.

The sites that have won a Sandford Award this year range from urban centres such as the Manchester Jewish Museum and the Science Museum in London, to rural heritage sites like Castell Henllys in Pembrokeshire.

Jean Macintyre, Head of the Department of Culture and the Environment at Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln said “We are absolutely delighted to have the Earl of Wessex to present the Sandford Awards this year at such an excellent heritage establishment. The Award is growing each year with more and more sites realising the advantages of celebrating their excellent practice by achieving an award.”

The Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre stood out by the mere fact that it was possibly one of the smallest organisations receiving the award and came from a “new town” or city, where most people assume there is little no history or heritage. The Director of the City Discovery Centre said “We were proud to prove people wrong and show that the ‘aspirational city’ of Milton Keynes has a history and heritage that goes back more than 4000 years; and that we can compete with every other city or large centre out there in the heritage stakes.” Prof David Lock, CBE said “ Milton Keynes is mostly known for its roundabouts and concrete cows, but was competing with cathedrals and national museums on the night and we were in real prestigious company. We were very proud to represent Milton Keynes at the awards.”