Willen Hospice have announced details of the return of their annual Christmas Tree Collection fundraiser.

The scheme will run from 3 – 5 January 2025, with Willen Hospice confirming it will be sponsored by The Eye Place in Towcester.

The Milton Keynes based charity will be running their collection service in early January and the service is available for people living in postcodes MK1 to MK19, MK43, MK46, LU7 and NN12.

To book a collection, residents need to visit the Willen Hospice website, and give a suggested donation of £12. Once the festivities are over and the decorations are down, anyone who has booked a collection just needs to leave their Christmas tree outside their property on Friday 3 January ready for it to be collected over the weekend.

The trees will be given a second life as wood chip and used as mulch in the Hospice gardens, and on public land – so no plastic trees!

The Willen Hospice Tree Collection service has been running for a number of years now, and raises thousands for the Hospice.

Nikki Poole, Willen Hospice Community Fundraising and Events Manager, said, “Our annual Christmas Tree Collection is one of our biggest fundraisers, helping to fund our specialist, compassionate care.

“It’s any easy way to support the Hospice and takes the hassle out of having to dispose of your real Christmas Tree! It’s also a great weekend for the community, with volunteers and businesses coming together to collect Christmas Trees all over Milton Keynes, Towcester and into Leighton Buzzard. I would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to The Eye Place, Towcester for sponsoring our 2025 collection.”

Currently Willen Hospice only receives 15% of ongoing funding from the NHS, meaning they rely on the generosity of the local community to help raise £8.7million every year.

Book your collection here www.willen-hospice.org.uk/trees

Police are appealing for witnesses following a theft from a car parked outside a bank in Milton Keynes.

The theft happened in the car park outside the Metro Bank in Oakgrove at approximately 2.20pm on Wednesday 18th December.

The victim, who was described by Thames Valley Police as a man in his sixties, returned to his car after visiting the bank, and placed his bag in the passenger seat, which contained a large quantity of money.

An offender opened the victim’s passenger door and stole the bag and money, before departing the scene in a silver estate vehicle in the direction of Ada Walk.

The bag is a camel colour and contained £2,200, along with a passport and some personal documents inside.

Thames Valley Police have described the offender in their appeal as a white man, of a large build. They were seen to be wearing a black face covering.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Grace Boland, said, “We are appealing for witnesses following this robbery.

“We are asking anyone who witnessed this incident to come forward. Additionally we believe there were several cars in the vicinity of the bank who may have dash-cam footage of this incident.

“As such we would ask them to please check their footage and get in touch if they think it could assist our enquiries.

“Anyone with information should call 101 quoting reference 43240611831 or you can contact via our online form.

“Or if you do not wish to speak to the police you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 and they will take your report 100% anonymously.”

MK Dons’ final game of 2024 saw them play out a 1-1 draw with Crewe Alexandra at Stadium MK.

An early goal by former Crewe man Joe White put the Dons ahead, only for a second half equaliser by Jamie Knight-Lebel to bring the visitors level.

With neither side able to find a way through, the result meant MK Dons ended a run of three defeats in a row, but the stalemate meant they are on a run of four without a win.

The result means MK Dons currently sit in 11th position in the table, with Scott Lindsey’s side five points behind Crewe in the final play-off position, although the Dons have at least one game in hand on several of the teams above them.

After a loss at home to Notts County on Boxing Day inflicted a third straight loss on them, MK Dons entered their final contest of 2024 seeking three points that could get them closer to the play-off positions.

A stubborn obstacle awaited them, however, with Crewe on a run of one defeat in 13 league games, although that defeat did come against Cheltenham in their last game on Boxing Day.

A reshuffled side was chosen by Lindsey with three changes from the Boxing Day defeat, with a space also on the bench for Charlie Waller on the day MK Dons confirmed he had been recalled from a loan with National League side Sutton United in the wake of an injury to Laurence Maguire.

After an even opening phase to the competition, it was MK Dons that found a breakthrough courtesy of a familiar face to Crewe fans. When Liam Kelly fed the ball through to White, the Newcastle loanee and former Crewe loanee was able to control and then fire a low shot beyond Crewe’s former MK Dons loanee goalkeeper Filip Marschall.

Much of the first half would see few opportunities created aside from that, with the two sides finding the going difficult when they reached the opposition’s final third.

Perhaps the single best opportunity of the rest of the first half fell Crewe’s way. A cross from their left flank was able to find a way across to Omar Bogle, who spun and had a shot on target that Tom McGill kept out.

McGill nearly got caught out when he was pressed outside his box and had to rush a clearance, but at half-time, MK Dons retained the advantage.

The visitors were accumulating a lot of free-kicks and corners, and it was from one of the latter when Crewe were able to equalise.

From Joel Tabiner’s corner, MK Dons couldn’t clear and somewhere in the middle of a scramble, the ball fell the way of Knight-Lebel, and the man on loan from Bristol City prodded the ball home.

Ryan Cooney blasted a shot off target a few moments later as Crewe had their moments in seeking to find a second goal.

MK Dons had their own moment when Joe Tomlinson had a strike from the edge of the box charged down, before a great chance was created by the visitors as McGill denied Shilow Tracey when a one-two with Matúš Holíček released the Crewe striker for a one-on-one.

Another chance would come Tracey’s way later on when he beat McGill to a long ball down the Crewe right, but he could only prod a strike wide of the mark.

In the final stages, MK Dons were beginning to see a bit more joy than they had in earlier moments of the game, with Scott Hogan firing wide under pressure and Aaron Nemane having a shot blocked.

MK Dons would have the last half-chances in the game, as substitute Callum Hendry had a shot deflected wide before former Crewe captain Luke Offord saw a header kept out by Marschall with the final touch of the game.

But there was no further big chances to trouble the scoreboard, as the two sides ended level at the end of the contest.

MK Dons: McGill – Sherring, Offord, Lawrence – Nemane, Thompson-Sommers, White (Hendry 63), Tomlinson (Harrison 74) – Kelly (Carroll 85), Hogan, Gilbey

Subs not used: MacGillivray, Williams, Lemonheigh-Evans, Waller

Goal: White (9)

Booked: Sherring, Gilbey, Hogan

Crewe: Marschall – Knight-Lebel, Demetriou, Williams – Cooney, Holicek (Long 78), Sanders (Finney 89), Tabiner, Conway (Powell 89) – Bogle, Tracey (Lunt 89)

Subs not used: Booth, Connolly, Billington

Goal: Knight-Lebel (56)

Booked: Conway

MK Dons’ Head Coach Scott Lindsey accepted his team were beaten by the better side as they lost to Notts County on Boxing Day.

Goals by George Abbott and Dan Crowley decided the contest at Stadium MK, consigning MK Dons to a third defeat in a row.

Speaking after the game, Lindsey said that the opposition were very good but felt the goals came from moments they could’ve done more to prevent and that they failed to take advantage of their own chances.

He said, “If I’m going to be really honest, which I will be, we came up against a better side today.

“I thought they were excellent. That’s where we need to get to – that level. We’ve got to give the opposition some credit. I felt that we worked really hard to block up. The defensive shape was really good at times and we made it hard for them, but in two moments, we give them far too much respect and room.

“I just said to the players that when you’re up against a good side like that, the minute you give two really good players room, they’ll punish you and we got punished in two moments. I thought the second goal was a bit of erratic play by ourselves. We boot the ball up the pitch when we could probably settle down and be calm in the moment, ball turns over, they attack again, Dan Crowley gets so much room – too much room for me. So we’re disappointed with that.”

Lindsey said he felt his side had their moments in-between the two Notts County goals but said the team were punished for not converting it and for erratic play that lead to the second strike.

He said, “When it was 1-0, I felt we were in a good place. We tested their keeper on a number of occasions in that moment. I felt as if we were the team that looked like we were going to score next. It wasn’t to be but I can’t fault my players’ effort, we’re just not up to that level yet but we will be.

“I said that I felt that at 1-0, we were in a good place and we were the next team to score, but we were erratic with our play, turn the ball over, they go down the other end and we give them far too much respect and room. When the second goal comes in, it’s a real mountain to climb. But we come up against a better team than us today to be really honest about that. Their manager’s had a lot more time than I’ve had with my group.

“We’ll get there but we have to react really positively because we have another game in a couple of days time. It is what it is.”

The Dons’ next contest sees them welcome Crewe as part of the quickfire Christmas rush, and having lost three games in a row, Lindsey briefly reflected that the team want to get back to winning ways as soon as possible.

He said, “The good news is the next game is soon and we can’t wait to get back out there and put it right.”