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We built a home for our community

Your Dar is a vibrant new community centre at the heart of Milton Keynes, dedicated to serving and strengthening our local community.

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  • Registered Charity No. 1207537
  • Secure payments
Photo neededThe Your Dar building from the outside: a clear, full view with no cars or other obstacles in front
Your Dar today
The building before the renovation, overgrown with ivy
How it looked when we bought it
£500,000repaid of £1,000,000
Interest-free loans from local supporters£500,000 to go
  • YD Tuition Centre
  • Pilates
  • YD Café
  • Office & space hire
  • Scouts meetings
  • Dinner for the community
  • World Cup screenings
  • Belonging
  • Coming soon
  • Out-of-hours doctor
  • Physiotherapy
  • Ladies' wellbeing centre
  • Community information meet
  • Driving instructors' meet
  • Every background welcome
  • Your home
Video neededOur vision, in the founders’ own words (1–2 min). Filmed upright on a phone fits this space best.
Since 2021

Our vision

We empower Milton Keynes to unite and achieve goals through integration and support.

  • To advance education, health & wellbeing, sports & culture
  • To provide facilities in the interests of social welfare, recreation, and leisure-time occupation with the object of improving the conditions of life for the general public.
  • To help in relieving poverty of Milton Keynes population and humankind in general in the UK and abroad
  • To provide support to elderly people and extend support for funeral services.

Our story

From overgrown site to community home

How an empty building became a place for everyone.

  1. The building when we found it: ivy over the front, weeds and moss across the car park
    The overgrown back garden, with a broken chair lying in the brambles
    Shrubs and brambles grown wild at the end of the garden
    The overgrown side garden, with trees and hedges grown wild
    01

    March 2022

    We found it

    An empty, run-down building on Newport Road. Overgrown grounds, empty rooms and years of neglect. But it had room for everything we hoped to build.

  2. Shaking hands outside the building on the day it was bought
    02

    October 2022

    We bought it, with help

    Donations and our own savings got us most of the way, but not all of it. So local supporters stepped in with interest-free loans. No bank, no interest, just trust in what this place could become.

  3. A room stripped back to the walls, rubble across the floor
    Overgrown trees cut back and cleared from the grounds
    The entrance hallway being opened up under a skylight
    New heating pipes laid under the floor
    Laying concrete for a new entrance outside the yellow doors
    03

    2023 – 2024

    We rebuilt it

    Builders took on the hard work: clearing the grounds, renovating inside and out, and bringing every room back to life. Members of our community gave their time to oversee the project and guide it at every step.

  4. Neighbours meeting in the Your Dar café today
    A YD Tuition Centre classroom with desks and two large screens
    The hall set out with rows of chairs for a screening
    The meeting room with its long table
    04

    2024

    We opened our doors

    Today Your Dar is home to tuition, Pilates, a café, office space and free events for the whole neighbourhood. There's just one thing left to do.

    Why we still need help

From then to now

The whole journey in one short film

1:30
Video needed One 60–90 second film that tells the story in order: the overgrown site first, then the workers renovating, ending with the centre full of people today.

Already open

Discover Our Diverse Services

Experience a wide range of inclusive services at Your Dar. Our welcoming environment ensures that the elderly and disabled feel right at home.

YD Tuition Centre

Reception to Year 13 in small groups of up to 5, from £15 an hour. Enrolling now.

Pilates

Regular classes for strength, balance and calm.

YD Café

Good coffee, warm food and a friendly face. Everyone welcome.

Office & space hire

Desks, offices and rooms for meetings, classes, clubs and private events.

Every booking helps

Income from classes, café and room hire keeps the centre running while donations clear the loans.

Open doors

Free for the community

Scouts meeting in the hall
Hosted free

Scouts meetings

We opened our hall to local Scouts so they had a safe, warm place to meet, free of charge.

Driving instructors' meet-up
Hosted free

Driving instructors' meet

A free space for local driving instructors to meet, share and plan together.

Long tables, food, neighbours
Community outreach

Dinner for the community

We invited our neighbours to share a meal. Everyone was welcome, at no cost.

Neighbours arriving for the introductory gathering
April 2026

Welcoming Our Neighbours: An Introduction to Your Dar

We were delighted to recently welcome members of our local community to Your Dar for a special introductory gathering.

Crowd watching the big screen
Culture & sport

World Cup screenings

Big-screen football that brought fans of every background together under one roof.

Event poster: Cancer in Elderly, an informative session
11 July 2024

Cancer in Elderly – An Informative Session

Professor Hany Eldeeb shared invaluable insights on elderly cancer care at our recent community event. Attendees enjoyed refreshments and engaged in meaningful discussions.

Supported by Milton Keynes Age UK

Event poster: Family Fun Day at Willen Lake
Free for everyone

Family Fun Day at Willen Lake!

Strengthen family bonds with us through a variety of fun-filled activities! Enjoy group games, tug of war, sack races, hula hoop contests, and parachute games. Fun for all ages!

Office desks offered free to Woolstone residents
April 2026

Community Support – Free Office Desks (Woolstone Residents)

As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting the local community in Woolstone, we are currently offering a number of office desks free of charge to residents who may benefit from them.

Invitation poster for the first Home Education Meeting
February 2026

Home Education Meeting Invitation

We are now launching the first Home Schooling Hub at our centre. The initial phase will focus on supporting girls’ home education.

Voices

What Your Dar means to people

Real quote from a parent at YD Tuition: what changed for their child?
Parent nameParent, YD Tuition Centre
Real quote from the Scouts leader: what did a free hall mean for the group?
Leader nameScout leader, Milton Keynes
Real quote from a neighbour at the community dinner: how does it feel to have this place nearby?
Neighbour nameWoolstone resident

Why we need you now

Our neighbours trusted us. Now we need to repay them.

To buy the building, we didn't want to wait years for grants or take on bank debt. So local supporters lent us the money interest-free, a loan built on trust rather than profit.

Those loans now need to be paid back. Donations to this appeal go straight to repaying them, so the building belongs to the community for good, and the centre's income can go into new services instead of debt.

  1. 1Supporters lent us £1,000,000, with no interest.
  2. 2We repay them as donations come in, and update this page every quarter.
  3. 3Once the loans are clear, the centre's income funds new services.
Help repay the loan

Where the money stands

Cost of building & renovation
£–
Covered by donations & our savings
£–
Borrowed interest-free from supporters
£1,000,000
Repaid so far
£500,000
Still to repay
£500,000

Repaid Still to go · 1 brick = 1% of the loan = £10,000

Figures checked by our trustees · Last updated October 2026

What's next

What your gift unlocks

Once the loans are repaid, the centre can open the services our community needs most.

Coming soon · Spring 2027

Out-of-hours doctor

Access to a doctor in the evenings and at weekends, close to home.

Coming soon · Spring 2027

Physiotherapy

Local support with recovery, pain and mobility.

Coming soon · Summer 2027

Ladies' wellbeing centre

A dedicated, private space for women's health, fitness and wellbeing.

Who we are

Real people you can meet

Your Dar is run by local volunteers and trustees who are accountable to the Charity Commission and to you.

Portrait
Full nameChair of TrusteesOne line: who they are, how long in MK
Portrait
Full nameTreasurerOne line about them
Portrait
Full nameTrusteeOne line about them
Portrait
Full nameTrusteeOne line about them
Check the official registerSearch Registered Charity No. 1207537 with the Charity CommissionCome and see for yourselfVisit any time we're open: Mon – Sat, 9am – 9pm

Questions

Before you give

Still unsure about something? Call us on +44 7435 749206 and we'll happily talk it through.

Yes. We are Registered Charity No. 1207537 with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, and you can look us up on the official register.

Donations to the Make It Ours Appeal go towards repaying the interest-free loans that let us buy the building. We publish our progress on this page and update it every quarter.

Local supporters lent the charity money without charging any interest, so we could buy the building without bank debt. They are people from our community who need to be repaid, and that's what this appeal is for.

Online payments are handled by Stripe, a secure payment provider used by millions of organisations. We never see or store your card details.

Absolutely. Get in touch and we'll arrange it, and we're happy to recognise your gift if you'd like us to.

Please do. Drop in during opening hours, have a coffee at the YD Café and see for yourself what your support has built.

Get in touch

Get in Touch with Us

Have questions or need assistance? Reach out to us at Your Dar Community Centre. We're here to help and look forward to connecting with you!

info@yourdar.org+44 7435 749206

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Collis House, 48 Newport RdWoolstone, Milton Keynes MK15 0AA
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