Established by the official tourism organisation for Milton Keynes, Destination MK, which Millbrook Venues is an active member of, the day hopes to encourage the community and local businesses to get involved in promoting the city.

Twitter users are being urged to use the hashtag #LoveMK on all tweets today to try and get it trending in the UK.

Kevin Leaver, head of events at Millbrook Venues says: “It is great to see Destination Milton Keynes harnessing the power of social media to promote the great leisure and business opportunities available to those living, working and visiting the city.

“As a venue that works closely with the business community in Milton Keynes and surrounding areas, we know just how much pride there is in the city and we are honoured to be a part of the organisation that is helping to put Milton Keynes on the map.”

As part of its overall strategy to increase its presence at key industry exhibitions, Millbrook Venues, the UK’s only events facility set in a 700 acre site and with 50 miles of outstanding test tracks, will return to Confex as part of a shared positioning with Destination Milton Keynes and its partner venues.

Kevin Leaver, head of events at Millbrook Venues says: “Confex provides an annual meeting place to connect events professionals with the best venues and services to suit their needs and represents a great opportunity for us to meet with our clients and do business.

“We are pleased to be joining Destination Milton Keynes at this year’s Confex event and we’re looking forward to talking to existing and potential new customers about Millbrook’s four unique venues, which offer endless possibilities for exhibitions, meetings, conferences, launches, parties and ride and drive experience days.

“As well as gaining an insight into Millbrook’s exciting venues, every visitor to the stand will get the chance to win an action packed weekend away in one of the UK’s most vibrant cities, including a 2 night stay at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel and an exclusive drive on Millbrook’s world-famous test tracks.”

The unique and flexible venue, which is located in central Bedfordshire and offers endless opportunities for a variety of events; including exhibitions, launches, conferences, parties and ride and drive days, hopes to fight off competition from five of its rivals at this year’s ceremony to be hosted in London on 10 April.

Millbrook’s entry showcases the versatility of the venues and demonstrates its performance on a number of high profile industry events held throughout 2012; including DVD2012, the most important stakeholder event in the defence diary for those involved in land and equipment support, the Low Carbon Vehicle show (LCV), the UK’s leading event for those involved in low carbon and fuel cell technologies and Commercial Motor Live, an event dedicated to commercial vehicle operators.

 “It has been reported that this year’s awards saw a record number of entries, with more than 150 companies and individuals vying for recognition,” says Kevin Leaver, head of events at Millbrook Venues. “We are very proud to have been selected as one of the top six venues in the country under 4000sqm and hope to prevail as the winner in this category.

“Millbrook Venues works closely with its partners and event agencies to ensure that every event held on site runs efficiently and meets the needs of all those involved, whether that’s organisers, exhibitors or guests,” continues Kevin. “We pride ourselves on our repeat business and referrals from happy customers who continue to use Millbrook Venues for their events.”

For further information about Millbrook Venues visit www.millbrookvenues.co.uk or call 01525 408325.

On 11 and 12 June 2013, Fleet News event, Company Car in Action (CCIA) and Millbrook will celebrate 21 years of the event when it welcomes visitors on site for exclusive launches and the opportunity to see and drive many new vehicles on Millbrook’s renowned test tracks.

For the first time, this year’s event will enable manufacturers who are advanced in the development of hydrogen and electric vehicles to demonstrate their vehicles as part of the aptly named Hydrogen Experience. Experts from the University of Birmingham will also be bringing a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle to showcase this technology to fleet managers.

The event will also examine the ‘future of fleet’ with a concept car display, where fleet managers can experience the latest safety equipment, including autonomous braking, in the ‘experimental area’, CCIA’s playground of new technology.

“As one of Europe’s leading locations for vehicle development, Millbrook Proving Ground has been the obvious location for CCIA for the past 21 years,” explains Sandra Evitt, event manager for Company Car in Action 2013. “We wanted to make this year’s event the best yet and so for 2013 it is not all about the cars. Over the course of the two days we will also be utilising Millbrook’s impressive venues to run a number of ‘how to’ seminars, giving delegates the opportunity to gain business knowledge with short blasts of innovation and quick wins that will get them thinking.”

Kevin Leaver, head of events at Millbrook Venues says: “We are proud to have worked with CCIA for such a long time, and it is testament to our expertise and facilities that the event organisers continue to choose Millbrook for their company car event each year.

“Millbrook is a home from home for many of the vehicle manufacturers that attend Company Car in Action, as they work closely with the proving ground on developing and testing their vehicles throughout the production process,” continues Kevin.

Millbrook Venues is the UK’s only facility set in a 700 acre site with 50 miles of test tracks and extensive facilities for exhibiting, seminars and ride and drive activities.

For further information about Company Car in Action and to book your place at the event, visit www.companycarinaction.com.

The launch event, which will feature in the beginning of each episode during the six part series, was filmed in Millbrook Venues’ Concept 1 and 2 buildings and offered the programme’s producers, Fever Media, a unique combination of space and flexibility. With capacity for up to 1,600 delegates the two venues featured a theatre style layout with a main stage for blind date match-ups, smaller, more intimate spaces for couples to get to know each other and dedicated areas for filming small pieces to camera with each of the couples.

“The privacy aspect, space and flexibility of Millbrook Venues meant it was the ideal location for filming the new BBC series” says Kevin Leaver, head of events at Millbrook Venues. “With more than 20 years’ experience working with film and television production crews, including for the James Bond Casino Royale film and motoring television series Top Gear and Fifth Gear, Millbrook understands the nature of the work and the time pressures film crews have to cope with while on site.”

As the UK’s only events facility set in a 700 acre site and with 50 miles of exhilarating test tracks, Millbrook Venues is the ideal location for hosting totally unique events; including exhibitions, launches, conferences, meetings and parties.

For more information about Millbrook Venues visit www.millbrookvenues.co.uk, call 01525 408325 or email events@millbrook.co.uk.

Catch the next episode of The Year of Making Love at 9pm on BBC Three on Monday 25 February or catch up on BBC iPlayer now – www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01qlm0j/The_Year_of_Making_Love_Episode_1/  

Organised by Bedfordshire Business Women (BBW) and in partnership with Mercedes-Benz of Bedford, Millbrook Venues welcomed professionals from across the region to its unique and exciting events facility, where a highly skilled pro-driver took 27 delegates on a track tour around the proving ground.

Guest speakers Steve Ottaway, chief executive of the Road Victim’s Trust, this year’s chosen charity for BBW and James Bayliss from Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue service gave talks on driving safety, a particularly appropriate topic given this week’s bad weather conditions. Colin Gleghorn, founder and managing director of training company Fourmative, also gave an informative speech about his various experiences of business life and the importance of training.

“We are really pleased with the success of this year’s BBW Man Day event,” said Amanda Murrell, president of Bedfordshire Business Women. “I would like to thank all of our partners and guests who helped us raise more than £740 for our 2013 charity, the Road Victims Trust.

“Millbrook Venues offered us something totally different for this year’s event and enabled us to give delegates much more time to network and increase their new business opportunities. Many of our guests commented on our exciting choice of venue as they arrived on site at Millbrook Proving Ground.

“As we commence the 25th year of BBW, we look forward to offering even more opportunities for our members to receive support and training,” continued Amanda.

Millbrook Venues’ senior account manager, Meena Chander, says: “We were thrilled to see so many local businesses at the event, many of whom showed a real interest in the tracks and facilities at our four flexible venues. Working in partnership with local businesses is a key focus for Millbrook Venues and I look forward to welcoming many of those businesses back for future events.”

To talk to Meena and the Millbrook Venues team about your next event call 01525 408330 or email meena.chander@millbrook.co.uk. Alternatively visit www.millbrookvenues.co.uk for further information about all four of Millbrook’s venues.

For more information about Bedfordshire Business Women visit beds-businesswomen.org.

Following the success of this year’s event, which attracted more than 1,800 visitors and 200 exhibitors and saw huge interest in vehicle demonstrations, including tours of Millbrook’s extensive test tracks, Cenex has chosen to work with Millbrook Venues again for a further two years.   

Kevin Leaver, head of events at Millbrook Venues says: “We are thrilled to have won the contract for LCV2013 and LCV2014. Next year will be the fifth time that the event has been hosted at Millbrook and the relationship that we have built with Cenex over that time has gone from strength to strength.

“The challenge of an event like LCV is ensuring the smooth running of the many elements of the event that all take place at the same time. For example seminars are held in one area, while workshops and exhibitions take place in another and it is essential that noise from one room does not affect another, but these challenges are all part of the fun of managing an event of this scale and calibre.”

Millbrook Venues is the UK’s only events facility set in a 700 acre site with 50 miles of test tracks. Millbrook is familiar to the majority of previous exhibitors and provides excellent facilities for the exhibition, seminar and ride and drive activities.

Robert Evans, CEO of Cenex explains: “Millbrook is the ideal location for LCV and we are pleased to be working with the events team again on what I’m sure will be another two hugely successful years. Millbrook’s vast indoor and outdoor space copes easily with temporary structures, and its unique tracks provide the perfect environment for showcasing a full range of low carbon vehicles.

“The ride and drive element of the event is always popular with delegates, enabling them to get hands on with the latest low carbon vehicles, so we are pleased to be able to offer this experience again in 2013 and beyond.”

This exciting event, which is organised in partnership with Mercedes-Benz of Bedford, will welcome up to 200 local professionals for an exclusive networking opportunity at Bedfordshire’s most unique venue.

As well as inspirational guest speakers, including Martin Smith from Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue service and Colin Gleghorn, founder and managing director of Fourmative, there will be an opportunity for guests to experience Millbrook’s impressive tracks by following in the Casino Royale tyre tracks of James Bond on some memorable driving experiences.

“Millbrook Venues was an obvious choice for us when it came to deciding on a venue for this year’s Man Day,” said Amanda Murrell, president of Bedfordshire Business Women. “Our chosen charity for 2013 is the Road Victims Trust, and the venue and guest speakers all tie in nicely with the driving theme.

“We wanted to make sure that there will be plenty of time for networking at this year’s event, as meeting new people and building relationships is what the Bedfordshire Business Women group is all about. Millbrook Venues has enabled us to maximise our networking time by providing a selection of hot food that can be eaten on the go, instead of a formal sit-down meal for lunch, meaning guests can continue to mingle while they eat,” continued Amanda.

Millbrook Venues’ senior account manager, Meena Chander, says: “Working in partnership with local businesses is a key focus for Millbrook Venues and I look forward to welcoming businesses from across the region to Man Day.”

For further information and to register for Man Day visit www.beds-businesswomen.org.

To talk to Meena and the Millbrook Venues team about your next event call 01525 408330 or email meena.chander@millbrook.co.uk.

In an ever-changing economy and with a continued need to build key networking relationships, many local businesses are realising the important role that events are playing in their success. Whilst in the past, big budgets meant distance and location were no object, recent economic conditions have seen more and more businesses looking closer to home for their event requirements.

Even multi-national companies are now looking at running smaller, locally focussed events, where they can not only build on existing relationships, but also look to forge new sustainable ones.  The reality is that the budgets needed to facilitate these events are actually within the reach of a huge number of SMEs, as well as the household names.  Whereas in the past, local businesses may have looked towards the golf course (fine if you play golf!) or spectator events to enhance their prospects, they are now starting to see the value in creating a truly different, memorable event.

Centrally located and easily accessible from anywhere in the UK, Millbrook Venues is set in a 700 acre site, offering optimum privacy and security, with 50 miles of exhilarating test tracks, making it the ideal location for corporate events such as product launches, networking events and client entertainment.

When it comes to events facilities, we know that flexibility is key, and events can be organised to any scale, from 30-1,250 delegates and include exclusive use of track facilities, including high performance passenger rides, 4×4 off-road challenges and self-drive. Your clients/customers/colleagues will feel sincerely spoilt as they make the most of a unique event that will keep you front of mind for a long time to come.

So what are you waiting for?… Call Meena and the events team now to book your next event, telephone 01525 408330 or email meena.chander@millbrook.co.uk.

Kevin Leaver, Head of Events at Millbrook said: “This is the fourth year that Millbrook has exhibited at Square Meal and we’re looking forward to seeing existing clients as well as meeting potential new ones and having a good gossip about the latest industry news. The show offers a rare opportunity for representatives of big London agencies to get exposure to lots of suppliers in one place, and provides Millbrook with the perfect platform to promote its unique and versatile venues.

“With its four purpose-built events facilities and unrivalled capacity to utilise its vast outdoor space, Millbrook Events is a popular location for everything from meetings, conferences and exhibitions to awards ceremonies, Christmas parties and ride and drive experience days.

“Last year’s Square Meal show attracted more than 7,000 visitors, and we’re hoping to see just as many friendly faces again this year. Come and visit us and find out how Millbrook Venues can make the most of your next event!”