Membership is open to local history groups and individuals and is open to those outside the MIlton Keynes City Council boundary.
We have quarterly meetings to which representatives of member groups are invited to exchange views and hear of the latest news from within the heritage sector. This fits with our central role of encouraging and developing co-operation between all organisations and societies with heritage interests. We also help organise various activities and events such as Heritage Open Days to promote heritage to the general public as well as setting up and managing major Heritage Lottery funded projects to encourage young people to get involved with heritage from an educational perspective.
Other direct member benefits include:
- Grants to members for qualifying projects
- Website hosting (with traffic analysis)
- Free IT and archiving training (digital and physical archiving)
- IT/Web exchange-of-experience meetings
- Regularly updated speakers list
- Free email newsletter to publicise your own events and see details of others
- City centre showcase for heritage exhibitions and events
- Heritage advocacy on behalf of members through interaction with major bodies and organisations
- Equipment hire (projectors, screens, computers, scanners, recording equipment, etc)
- Broader internet exposure and a raised profile via our heritage portal www.mkheritage.org.uk
We can help new members set up a website from scratch if they don’t already have one and we are also in the process of encouraging our existing members (where they have not already done so) to convert their websites over to WordPress (free) web publishing software. This makes websites easier to maintain and helps improve presentation and interactivity. We run free IT training sessions to support this and there are also regular ‘members website experience exchange’ sessions every Wednesday (both are based at Milton Keynes Museum/Living Archive IT training suite). We see this not only as an opportunity for members to improve their computer skills but also as an opportunity to involve a new generation in bringing the benefits of digitisation to all aspects of the Heritage sector.
We do look forward to the possibility of you joining the Association and don’t hesitate to contact the MKHA Treasurer at MKHAtreasurer@gmail.com if you need any further information.