War Cry 13 September 2025 by The Salvation Army UK and Ireland

Ready, teddy, go

Repair Shop duo on bears and prayers

What is The Salvation Army?

The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity seeking to share the good news of Jesus and nurture committed followers of him. We also serve people without discrimination, care for creation and seek justice and reconciliation. We offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK. Go to salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church to find your nearest centre.

What is the War Cry?

The Salvation Army first published a newspaper called the War Cry in London in December 1879, and we have continued to appear every week since then. Our name refers to our battle for people’s hearts and souls as we promote the positive impact of the Christian faith and The Salvation Army’s fight for greater social justice.

Editor: Andrew Stone, Major

Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow

Staff Writer: Emily Bright

Staff Writer: Claire Brine

Staff Writer: Ewan Hall

Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk

Graphic Designer: Mark Knight

Graphic Designer: Natalie Adkins

Email: warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk

The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory 1 Champion Park London SE5 8FJ

Tel: 0845 634 0101

Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org

Founders: Catherine and William Booth International leaders: General Lyndon Buckingham and Commissioner Bronwyn Buckingham Territorial leaders: Commissioners Jenine and Paul Main

Editor-in-Chief: Major Julian Watchorn

From the editor’s desk

When someone walks into the barn on BBC1’s The Repair Shop and tells the story of their attachment to a much-loved, well-worn toy, it’s time for Amanda Middleditch and Julie Tatchell – aka the Teddy Bear Ladies – to get to work on restoring it.

In this week’s issue of the War Cry, Amanda and Julie reveal that when anyone enters the barn to seek their help, they take a moment to pray.

‘Sometimes,’ says Julie, ‘our contributors come in to tell a lovely story. But sometimes there’s a lot of pain and hurt, particularly if there’s illness involved, or children – that’s always really hard. So we pray for the people themselves.’

Amanda adds: ‘I want each person to feel secure and safe while they’re in that environment. I just shoot up a little prayer.’

While Julie and Amanda want to create a safe environment for the people who are entrusting them with their sentimentally significant items, a church in the capital is looking to create an environment that can benefit people through the power of music.

registered charity. The charity number in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 214779, in Scotland SC009359 and in the Republic of Ireland CHY6399.

Printed by CKN Print, Northampton, on sustainably sourced paper

Holy Sepulchre London is known as the National Musicians’ Church. Tomorrow (Sunday 14 September) it will hold the End of Proms Service, marking the close of the BBC’s annual classical music festival. But all year round the church holds concerts, workshops and come-and-sing events as well as worship services marked by music of various kinds.

‘We want to be a place where we use music for wellbeing, peace and sanctuary,’ says its rector, Father Nick Mottershead.

Making music available and making repairs to toys may look like very different activities, but what Father Nick does at Holy Sepulchre and what the Teddy Bear Ladies do at the Repair Shop barn are linked by a common thread. Julie says that she and Amanda are guided by the knowledge that Jesus ‘is loving’ the people that they meet on The Repair Shop. Nick insists that the church aims to echo the way that ‘God loves us all’.

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In a league of his own

Cricketing legend gives coaching young people another shot

By Emily Bright

An England cricketer-turned-TV presenter has gone back into bat for the North West. In the third series of Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams, which began last weekend, the all-rounder is planning to create a cricket league for teenagers living in underprivileged areas.

During the last series, Freddie took a grassroots team of young lads from Preston on a tour of India. Buoyed by the positive changes that he saw in his players, he planned to create more teams like them.

In the first episode of this series, he headed to Bootle Cricket Club in Liverpool, which had been vandalised multiple times.

To recruit players for the club, he visited a pupil referral unit (PRU), catering for young people who’d been excluded from secondary schools. None of the teenagers were bowled over by Freddie’s arrival: they seemed neither to know or care about cricket. But when he hosted try-outs at the park, a handful of PRU boys turned up, revealing their cricketing potential.

Freddie also headed to Blackpool, visiting South Shore Cricket Club, which was in decline. He decided that establishing the club’s first girls’ team could help.

When it came to coaching girls, he was stumped: he had no prior experience. But Freddie gave it a go, with the guidance of England player Kate Cross.

Throughout the series, Freddie’s patience and coaching skills will be put to the test – many of the young people have never played cricket before and some will push the boundaries of acceptable behaviour. But Freddie sees his project as being not just about sport; it’s about enabling young people to embrace their futures.

‘The very essence of this is helping the kids that we come in contact with, giving them the confidence of trying something new,’ he said. ‘Now walking into the cricket club is quite daunting. So is a job interview. We’re trying to give them the coping mechanisms for what’s going to happen in life later on down the line.’

Freddie is keen to equip the teenagers with skills they need to succeed in later life. But it’s up to them whether they seize the opportunity or let it slip away.

In our own lives, we all go through times when we need support to overcome personal challenges or make a fresh start. And yet, whether or not we’re physically surrounded by friends or family, a tough experience can leave us feeling isolated.

But there is someone who is always there for us, who will help us through: God.

One Bible writer shared a truth on the subject: ‘Those who trust the Lord will find new strength’ (Isaiah 40:31 Contemporary English Version).

He knew that if anyone asked for God’s help, it was possible to take on any challenge that life presented and turn situations around. That’s still true for us today. If we give faith a shot, God will strengthen and support us, transforming our lives. He will show us that his love for us will never run out. He will guide us in how to make it through the toughest of times.

Howzat?

TV feature: Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams: Ultimate Test Sundays BBC1 and iPlayer

Freddie with South Shore Cricket Club’s new girls’ team and fellow coaches Kyle Hogg (right) and Kate Cross

j TEA M TALK

Wellbeing is struggling to make the grade

Emily Bright gives her take on a story that has caught the attention of War Cry reporters

An anxiety epidemic is spreading among UK students. A Sunday Times-commissioned poll has revealed that 69 per cent of girls have stayed home from school because of anxiety.

More in Common, which surveyed 1,100 16 and 17-year-olds and conducted an online focus group, had other findings too.

It reported that 24 per cent of respondents experienced anxiety, and it highlighted contributing factors such as social media, a lack of socialisation during the Covid pandemic, and fears for the future.

The most common concerns among young people were exams (48 per cent), finding a good job (47 per cent), future finances (42 per cent) and physical appearance (37 per cent). But what perhaps surprised me the most was that 40 per cent of female students and 29 per cent of male students felt that they had no purpose in life.

In God’s presence, I find reassurance

Twenty years ago, my brother and sister-in-law presented me with a Youth Bible – an edition specially designed for teenagers. On the title page, they had written a chapter and verse, which I looked up – and which I have returned to time and again over the years, in good times and bad.

In one translation the verse says that God ‘will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs’ (Zephaniah 3:17 New Living Translation).

As someone who has battled with anxiety, I’ve taken encouragement from knowing that my true identity – regardless of my job, relationship status or finances – is first and foremost as a daughter of God. And best of all, he loves and delights in me.

In God’s presence, I find rest and reassurance. I know that he will help me to navigate whatever life throws at me – and that, whether I’m having a good day with my anxiety or feeling at rock bottom, he will always be with me.

The Bible insists that anyone can discover a relationship with God and enjoy the love, peace and comfort that he brings. It’s a claim that is, without doubt, worth further study.

WAR talk talk Team talk Team talk ‘ ’

Salvation Army calls for overdose awareness

The Salvation Army has urged the government to run a national campaign to raise awareness of medication that can prevent death from an opioid overdose.

Lieut-Colonel Nick Coke, The Salvation Army’s co-ordinator for justice and reconciliation, and Lee Ball, its director of addictions, wrote to the public health minister, Ashley Dalton, saying that, at a time when opioid-linked deaths were rising, ‘only 14 per cent of UK adults are aware of naloxone, compared to 83 per cent who know about EpiPens and 88 per cent about defibrillators’. They continued: ‘This is particularly concerning given that 52 per cent of UK adults have either used an opioid or know someone who has.’

Available as an injection and nasal spray, naloxone delivers an instant but temporary reversal of the effects of an opioid overdose, giving the emergency services time to reach an incident.

WAR CRYWnRLD

Fury sounds positive about faith impact

In an interview with the BBC about his TV documentary The Good, the Bad, the Fury, boxer Tommy Fury opened up about the role that faith has played in his life.

Reflecting on the background of his beliefs, Tommy said: ‘I’m a Christian. You’ll see in the documentary when I was younger, around 10 or 12 years old, I was an altar boy in the primary school that I went to. I used to serve the Mass and help the priest out. And yeah, I talked to God every single day.’

Tommy went on to discuss the positive impact of faith on him today, saying:

‘Everything that I have in my life now is all thanks to the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I owe him everything.

‘After every big fight that I have, it’s always thank you to my Lord and Saviour for this victory.’

We’re on the march at Homeless World Cup

A Salvation Army band play at the opening parade of the Homeless World Cup in Oslo.

The Norwegian Salvation Army – which runs the national side that competes at every Homeless World Cup – hosted this year’s edition of the annual football tournament in which 500 men and women who have experienced homelessness represented their countries.

After a week of matches, the men’s competition was won by Egypt and the women’s by Uganda.

Available on BBC iPlayer, The Good, the Bad, the Fury also explores the alcohol problems that Tommy faced and how he has worked to rebuild his career and improve his mental health and family relationships.

On the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a Salvation Army emergency worker spoke to Premier Christian News about the role that the church and charity played in the aftermath of the disaster.

Hurricane Katrina claimed an estimated 1,500 lives across Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi and caused around $300 billion of damage after it made landfall in August 2005.

Speaking to journalist Tola Mbakwe, Jeff Jellerts – who oversaw the relief efforts – recalled how The Salvation Army served more than eight million meals, handed out tens of thousands of clean-up kits, and supported long-term recovery efforts for the next 10 years.

‘Our job wasn’t just to feed stomachs,’ he said. ‘It was to remind people that God hasn’t abandoned them.’

Thank you for the music

On Saturday (13 September) the BBC Proms are due to reach their grand finale at the Albert Hall with the traditional noise and colour of

the Last Night – but the following day another Proms tradition will be taking place in a church across the city

Feature by Philip Halcrow

‘That’s the organ he learnt on as a boy,’ says Father Nick Mottershead, rector of Holy Sepulchre London, pointing out the instrument that was played by the future conductor and co-founder of the Proms –the annual music festival that for the past eight weeks has been drawing thousands of people to the Royal Albert Hall and entertaining millions on TV and radio. ‘Sir Henry Wood was in the choir here. This was his family church. He was baptised here. His grave is here too.’

The association is one reason that Holy Sepulchre London is known as the National Musicians’ Church. And on Sunday (14 September) it will host the recently revived tradition of the End of Proms Service, during which the chaplet of laurel leaves that is hung on the bust of Wood at the previous evening’s Last Night of the Proms will be brought in and placed on his grave.

Sitting in a quiet corner of the church, the morning after Promenaders at the Albert Hall had listened to work by Part, Dvorak and Sibelius, Father Nick says: ‘We see ourselves as fundamentally part of the Proms. The tradition of the chaplet coming from the Albert Hall to here goes back a long way, though I don’t know exactly when it started. But it had stopped some time ago.

‘When we identified that there was a

tradition for an End of Proms Service, we thought, why did it stop? It seems that people just felt that it wasn’t needed. But we need traditions if they are good traditions, even if sometimes we need to reimagine them a little.’

So the church revived the service in 2023.

Nick says: ‘I like the idea that at the end of the Proms there is a place for all – musicians, people who helped to put on the Proms and people who have attended the concerts – to gather, pause and celebrate what has been done.’

All musicians can be celebrated uniquely

Since coming to the church, Nick has been digging into the church’s past. While looking back, he has also been trying to help the church play its natural part in the musical life of the community and the nation.

‘When I arrived here four years ago, the church was almost closed,’ he says. ‘But I picked up the sense that I didn’t have to come up with a mission for the church; I was just joining in with something.’

Nick believes that, as well as being a parish church that should be open to the surrounding

Father Nick Mottershead

PHILIP HALCROW

Jules Buckley, Anoushka Shankar, Alison Balsom and Nicholas McCarthy were among the musicians in the

community, Holy Sepulchre should reflect its position as the National Musicians’ Church.

‘We want to be a place where we use music for wellbeing, peace and sanctuary,’ he says. ‘Our church should be a place where musicians feel celebrated.’

The noticeboard in the foyer reveals some of the ways in which the church honours music-making. Posters advertise the church’s weekly community choir event; a Requiem Mass in memory of musicians; a workshop led by choral composer Bob Chilcott; and the End of Proms Service.

‘The service is a choral evensong,’ explains Nick, ‘and, as well as the key tradition of bringing the chaplet from the Albert Hall, it reflects Henry Wood’s desire to encourage new composers by including the premiere of a choral piece.’

Nick suggests that Henry Wood and co-founder Robert Newman’s idea back in the 19th century for the Proms to make classical music accessible is something to celebrate.

‘I think the service reminds us how it all started. This was a place

where, as a child, Henry Wood learnt his love of music. He came to learn that all people can compose – he was one of the early voices that said that women can be composers, and we want to celebrate that. He said that children should be given the opportunity to enjoy music.’

Music of various kinds and made by people of various abilities can be powerful, says Nick. It can ‘remove hierarchies’ – so that when people get together to make music, their role in other areas of life becomes irrelevant. The people who teach it can help their students see the world differently. Music can even be, he suggests, ‘an audible sign’ of something divine.

‘We have an amazing choir at the church,’ he says. ‘We also have some amazing contemporary worship leaders. I find that both choral and contemporary music can bring me closer to God.

‘We need the right music. We also need the right environment that will help us be open to be transformed by music. We’re blessed at the church with wonderful acoustics. And all of these things add something so that – if we come with an openness – we may be able to find a little bit of peace.’

And, as the church looks forward to the End of Proms Service, Nick reflects: ‘We want to say that all musicians –whether music teachers, composers or

performers, from the most famous to the least heard – can be celebrated uniquely but are wonderful equally. In doing so, I think the idea that we are celebrating is the way that God loves us all – he loves each one of us uniquely, but each one of us equally.’

l The End of Proms Service is due to be broadcast live on Sunday (14 September) on Radio 3

line-up at this year’s Proms

Proms founder Sir Henry Wood

The Repair Shop ’s Teddy Bear Ladies JULIE TATCHELL and AMANDA MIDDLEDITCH explain why they weave prayer into their restorations and tell how a much-loved mascot inspired their new storytelling venture

Interview by Emily Bright

Bear necessities

2017, it has become a schedule staple, with an average of seven million people tuning in for every episode.

Two of the experts on the show, which is filmed in a barn at the Weald and Downland Living Museum in Chichester, West Sussex, are the cuddly toy conservators known as ‘the Teddy Bear Ladies’.

made,’ says Julie over a Zoom call.

‘What she fails to mention,’ recalls Amanda with a twinkle in her eye, ‘is that in that basket was a beautiful rabbit. I told her I was a teddy bear artist who was making and designing my own bears, and would she like to sell them in her shop?

‘But the first thing she said was: “This is

herself, as Amanda recalls.

‘Julie said yes, she would love to have the bears in the shop, on the condition that I would work there to demonstrate what I did, so that people could see the craftmanship that goes into making a teddy bear. I started working there once a week.’

Julie adds: ‘It didn’t last as one day a

necessities

Julie and Amanda working in the ‘Repair Shop’ barn

Julie had started Bear it in Mind after sensing it was something that God wanted her to do. She remembers how she felt prompted to set up her shop in a particular location.

‘I’d been looking at a couple of premises and, for one reason or another, they weren’t working. And I found another,

to do on it, it felt like exactly what I needed.

show is honest and kind

‘Then I decided I needed to calm myself down, because I was about to leave for a church weekend away with my family. When we arrived, my husband took the children to the swimming pool. I took

myself off upstairs, opened my Bible and went: “Help me, God!”

‘I landed on a verse about going to the house of the potter and forming things out of clay. The property I was looking at had been a former pottery. It felt like it was meant to be.’

Faith is something that Julie and Amanda have in common. Julie became a Christian about 28 years ago. She and her husband had just had their first child and had begun to look into christenings. It led them to re-examine the subject of faith, and they linked up with a church and started attending Alpha, a course which explains the basics of Christianity.

Amanda decided to follow Jesus about seven years ago. She attended a Christmas service with her brother and his wife, which triggered ‘a lightbulb moment’ that inspired her to take part in an Alpha course too.

For years, Amanda had been curious about faith and had asked Julie plenty of questions about her beliefs. But it was while attending the Alpha course that Amanda became convinced that God was real.

Amanda and Julie’s shared beliefs provided them with reassurance about changing the course of their business.

‘A few years in,’ says Julie, ‘we closed the shop because it was very difficult to keep a shop running when we had so much restoration work to do. So when the lease came up, we let it go. We took a bold step of moving the studio into my home. It was the best thing we could have done.’

Eight years ago, they received a call from The Repair Shop’s production company to gauge their interest in taking part in a pilot series. Having experienced mockery about their profession in the past, Julie recalls being concerned that the show would have elements of mickeytaking for the sake of TV.

‘But the whole ethos of the show is honest,’ she asserts, ‘and kind and true to what you see when you’re watching it. If it had been any other way, we would not have had a part in it.’

The Christian faith plays a central role in how the Teddy Bear Ladies approach their work in the Repair Shop barn. Before each contributor walks through the door with their item, Amanda and Julie take a moment to ask God for help.

‘Prayer grounds me,’ says Amanda. ‘When there’s lots of cameras pointing at you, it’s easy to think that “it’s about me”, but it’s not. This is the contributor’s moment, their story, their item. I want each person to feel secure and safe while they’re in that environment. I just shoot up

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a little prayer before people come through the door.’

Amanda adds that the production crew are supportive. ‘There have been times where we’ve had something really difficult to talk about,’ she says, ‘and there’s not been a dry eye in that barn.’

And, given the emotional connection that people have to their treasured items, there’s always pressure to restore the object correctly.

‘We’ve done our utmost to deliver the best possible result,’ says Amanda. ‘But we don’t know, until we take the cover off the item, what the contributor’s reaction is going to be. It can be scary, but it’s lovely to be able to do that for people.’

One particularly memorable repair the Teddy Bear Ladies carried out was that of 12-year-old Colin’s beloved toy cat Jess. Colin had Pierre Robin sequence, a rare birth defect which meant that he had an

underdeveloped jaw, breathing difficulties, no speech and was unable to chew. Jess was looking the worse for wear after being Colin’s cuddly companion during his numerous hospital stays and operations.

‘Colin had lots of additional needs,’ remembers Amanda. ‘He was expected to only live to be about a year old.

The stories poured out of me

‘Colin just blew me away. When we returned that cat to him, he grabbed it, hugged it and then broke down and cried. And his foster-mum said: “I’ve never seen that emotional reaction from him before.” He went round the barn, showing everybody. That was amazing.’

Now Julie and Amanda are tackling a completely different project: bringing teddy bears to life through children’s stories. Bartie Bristle and Other Stories has been a book in the making for many years, inspired by Bear it in Mind’s mascot.

‘Before I met Amanda,’ recalls Julie, ‘I designed the logo for my shop, Bear it in

Mind – Bartie Bristle was on the swing sign outside. And after I’d known Amanda for a little while, I said to her: “I’d really like it if you could bring him to life for me. I want him to be our brand.” She made prototypes for me.

‘We produced him by hand. In the first year, we made 18 identical bears, which we sold. Then we brought out a new Bartie Bristle – the same design, but something different about him every year for 10 years. When we were away doing something, he would come with us, like a mascot, so people would get to see him.’

Bartie sparked literary inspiration in Julie.

‘I started writing little stories about him,’ she says. ‘I’m not a writer; I have mild dyslexia. But when I sat down to write these stories, they poured out of me, like I’d been writing for ever. While I didn’t go out to write a Christian storybook, I believe that right from the beginning, the stories were Holy Spirit-led.’

But, without an agent, Julie couldn’t convince publishers to print her stories about Bartie and his teddy bear pals.

‘We did print a couple of the stories as they were, selling them as souvenirs in the shop, but they were never published,’ she says.

‘They just sat on my computer for a few years, until we were in the fortunate position of being able to approach a publisher. And then it went from there. By that time, Amanda was much more involved in the stories and the ideas and, although I remain the writer of them, it’s a collaboration now.’

Lying at the heart of the stories, says Amanda, is ‘a golden thread of kindness that runs throughout the village. It’s around the pages and on the front cover: a nod to the Holy Spirit. The book is about love and kindness, always looking out for others, and

Colin’s cat Jess was in dire need of repair

thinking before you act. Bartie is inquisitive and likes to ask lots of questions, but he’s genuinely kind. He worries about other people, he loves other people.’

And – whether it’s writing a storybook, managing a business or appearing on The Repair Shop – it seems that the golden thread running through the lives of Amanda and Julie is their shared Christian faith.

‘Jesus grounds me and helps me to not be afraid of being myself,’ explains Amanda. ‘I need somebody to guide me, and I can sometimes say: “Jesus, is this

the right thing to do?” or “Lord, help me.” He’s definitely a guiding light.’

Julie adds: ‘I think acknowledging that there is that third person within our business relationship is key. Jesus is our whole life, and we know that, wherever we go, there’s a third person who’s got our backs.

‘He is loving our customers and the people that we meet on The Repair Shop He’s in charge of all of that, and we just pray that we keep listening to him.

‘We also have a confidence in knowing

that he made us and loves us. We’ll just do what we can for him, because he has designed us the way we are.’

Colin’s foster-mum Lesley and her daughter Nicola with Jess

l Bartie Bristle and Other Stories is published by Walker Books

Your prayers are requested for John, who is in prison.

The War Cry invites readers to send in requests for prayer, including the first names of individuals and details of their circumstances, for publication. Send your Prayerlink requests to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk or to War Cry, 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ. Mark your correspondence ‘Confidential’.

Becoming a Christian

There is no set formula to becoming a Christian, but many people have found saying this prayer to be a helpful first step to a relationship with God

Browsing the Bible Nigel Bovey gives chapter

and

verse on each book of the Scriptures

Micah

A contemporary of the prophets Isaiah and Hosea, Micah is prophesying to Judah and Samaria (the northern kingdom of Israel) before the fall of Jerusalem, Judah’s capital, in 587BC.

Micah says that God is angry with his people for breaking their covenant with him through the worship of idols. God warns that he will break all of the idols: ‘All her Temple gifts will be burned with fire; I will destroy all her images’ (1:7 New International Version).

His anger will also be directed at the wealthy who misuse the privilege and power that money brings – those who seize houses and land; those who cheat people out of their possessions (2:2); and those who reduce men to poverty and drive women from their homes (2:8 and 9).

There are leaders who, although they know what justice is, ‘tear the skin from my people, and the flesh from their bones’ (3:2).

God admonishes them and says that he will also bring disgrace on the prophets and diviners who have made false prophecies and readings (3:5–7).

Lord Jesus Christ,

I know that I have done things in my life that are wrong and I’m sorry.

Thank you that I can ask you for forgiveness because of the sacrifice you made when you died on the cross.

Please forgive me and help me to live a better life in the future as I learn how to love you and follow your way of living. Thank you, Lord Jesus.

As a result of his people’s sins, God will reduce the city of Samaria to rubble (1:6). He will bring disaster upon the wicked (2:3), and Jerusalem will be destroyed (3:12).

But all is not lost. God also promises restoration. From his weak-but-righteous people, God will make a remnant. The Lord himself will rule in Jerusalem and dominion will be restored (4:7 and 8).

Bethlehem will be the birthplace of a ruler who will ‘shepherd his flock’. Under him, the nation will live securely and he will bring peace (5:2–5). Christians see this prophecy as being fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

The people, says Micah, know what God requires of them – ‘to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God’ (6:8).

Israel, fallen because of her wilful breaking of the Ten Commandments, may be reduced to dust, but one day, says Micah, she will rise (7:8–20).

If you’ve prayed this prayer, scan the QR code or contact us using the coupon on this page

To receive basic reading about Christianity and information about The Salvation Army, complete this coupon and send it to

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QUICK QUIZ

Ensuring the coast is clear

People are being encouraged to join the Great British Beach Clean Feature by

Ewan Hall

Believe and Changes are No 1 albums by which Canadian pop artist?

What was the title of David Attenborough’s recent BBC1 series about animals and their offspring?

The Hundred and T20 Blast are competitions in which sport?

Pierce Brosnan, Celia Imrie, Helen Mirren and Ben Kingsley star as amateur detectives in which new film?

In finance, what is the NYSE?

In digital technology, what unit is equal to approximately one million megabytes? 1 2 3 4 5 6

Up and down the coastline, people will be trading their buckets and spades for litter pickers and bin bags next week as the Great British Beach Clean gets under way. From Friday (19 September) until the end of the month, volunteers will be tidying up hundreds of beaches.

Run by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), the annual initiative encourages community-led clean-ups of the coastline. And the volunteers’ collection of litter also enables the charity to collect litter data, which it then uses to tackle ocean pollution.

The good news is that over the past decade, the data has shown a drop of 80 per cent in carrier bags found on UK beaches. However, because the number of visitors along the country’s coasts rose this summer, possibly leading to an increase in litter, the MCS is hoping that more individuals will join a clean-up.

One volunteer who enjoys helping out, Isaac Kenyon, says: ‘There’s something deeply grounding about standing on a shoreline and knowing that your small actions are part of something much bigger. Every piece of litter picked up is one less hazard for wildlife, one less piece of plastic in the ocean and one small step toward a healthier planet.’

As volunteers comb the sands for discarded food wrappers and bottle tops, some of us may feel that it’s not just the beach that needs a clean. Our lives can also become cluttered – with stress, regret or the weight of responsibilities.

In such moments, Christians turn to their faith in Jesus to help them find a way through. They find reassurance in Jesus’ promise that God will support them in tough times and guide them when life feels a bit rubbish. They find comfort in Jesus’ words: ‘Come to me all of you who are tired from the heavy burden you have been forced to carry. I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28 Easy-to-Read Version).

Whatever state our lives are in, we don’t have to struggle with our worries alone. If we choose to trust in Jesus, he will help us tackle our problems – however big the mess we find ourselves in.

Quick CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1. Assert (5)

4. Of indigenous South American people (5)

8. Tree (3)

9. Allure (5)

10. Canal boat (5)

11. Flightless bird (3)

12. Female (5)

13. Allay (7)

16. Haphazard (6)

19. Enquiring (6)

23. Expand (7)

26. Lessen (5)

28. Elect (3)

29. Additional (5)

30. Fashion (5)

31. Observe (3)

32. Mature (5)

33. Proportion (5) DOWN

2. Scare (5)

3. Keepsake (7)

4. Tarnished (6)

5. Secret political clique (5)

Vehicle (3)

6. Of Scandinavia (5) 7. Strainer (5) 9. Crouch in fear (5) 14. Irritate (3)

Craft (3) 18. Owing (3) 20. Strew (7) 21. Avarice (5)

HONEYC

Each solution starts on the coloured cell and reads clockwise round the number

Selected (6)

Gloss (5)

Hub of radiating blades (5)

Walk noisily (5)

Capable (5)

O M B

Look up, down, forwards, backwards and diagonally on the grid to find these ‘Downton Abbey’ cast members Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9

Ripen. 33. Ratio.