Stage is set
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: William and Catherine Booth
International leaders: General Lyndon Buckingham and Commissioner Bronwyn Buckingham Territorial leaders: Commissioners Jenine and Paul Main
Editor-in-Chief: Major Julian Watchorn
Your local Salvation Army centre
A dramatic crime wave has hit TV and streaming platforms. Whether it’s the cosy feel of clerics solving mysteries or the gritty storylines of inner-city murders investigated by detectives battling their own demons, viewers can’t seem to get enough of whodunnits. In this week’s new series of ITV1 police drama Unforgotten Sinéad Keenan have more cases to solve.
A trip to the dentist isn’t something many people enjoy. The thought of fillings and plaque removal doesn’t tend to be high on people’s wish list – although if we’ve been suffering toothache, a dentist can suddenly become our best friend.
When British dentist Robert Banks took his skills to a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesvos, he was met by grateful patients of all ages and walks of life.
Perhaps the popularity of these crime dramas is explained by the satisfaction that viewers gain from seeing wrongs put right and the guilty brought to justice. Often the shows’ wrong’uns are bad to the core and have deliberately chosen to follow a life of crime.
However, according to people who work with offenders, the reality is often far more complex. After becoming a prison chaplain, the Rev Tracy Sickel quickly realised that various factors played a part in women becoming inmates.
‘The refugees who arrive on the shores of Lesvos have been through trauma, danger and horrors that we can only imagine,’ Rob tells us in an interview in this week’s War Cry advanced because we didn’t have the necessary equipment, but our work was about providing pain relief, treating infection and just helping people to feel better.’
‘I sat down with women in their induction interviews on their first day in prison,’ she tells us, ‘and it was the same things I was hearing continually: lack of self-esteem, abusive relationships, trauma, unforgiveness and addictions. Often they were victims themselves.’
Rob explains that he was willing to give up his time to spend in the refugee camp because, as a follower of Jesus, he wants to support other people so that they can experience some of God’s love for themselves. He describes how his experiences in the camp opened his eyes to the way in which his dentistry skills can be used by God.
While Tracy never dismissed the implications of the women’s crimes, some years ago she grew disheartened at seeing women returning to prison after their release. So she established a Christian charity, Imago Dei, to support them once they had completed their sentence.
‘It showed me how much we can make a difference in the world,’ he says.
God wants everyone to experience his love in their lives. He often encourages Christians to help others so that those people who are finding life tough can know that he cares for them.
As well as offering practical help, Tracy wants to show the women how a relationship with God can help them.
‘We work with people of all faiths and none in prisons,’ she says. ‘We build relationships, placing value on the women and helping them see themselves as the Lord sees them... We then allow the Lord to step in and do what only he can do – transform lives.’
Whatever circumstance we may be facing at the moment, God wants us to know that we are important to him. We may have pain in our lives right now, but he is offering us the chance to experience something new and better in a relationship with him – something that will help put a smile on our face.
God’s offer to transform lives is for us all, no matter who we are or what we have done. If we allow him space in our heart, we’ll detect changes in our character that we couldn’t have possibly imagined.
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As tens of thousands of festivalgoers pitch up at Glastonbury, LEONN MEADE of the London Community Gospel Choir talks about the music and message that they are about to take to the Acoustic Stage
Interview by Philip Halcrow
Worthy Farm is about to open its gates – and big names in the field of music are getting ready to take to the many stages of the Glastonbury Festival.
Up-and-coming country-influenced artist CMAT, disco pioneer Nile Rodgers and keep-on-rockin’ singer-songwriter Neil Young are among those who will be taking their sounds to the Pyramid Stage. Meanwhile, across the site, the Other Stage will be hosting ‘brat’ populariser Charli XCX and jazz outfit Ezra Collective, while the Acoustic Stage will welcome the Searchers – who are performing their melodic Merseybeat for the last time – and a name that has appeared in the Glastonbury line-up numerous times: London Community Gospel Choir.
‘I think from the early 2000s the choir was there every year for about 10 or 12
years,’ says LCGC’s musical director, Leonn Meade. ‘There was a little bit of a break, but then we were blessed last year to be asked back, and we got the call again this year. We’re looking forward to being there.’
A fortnight before the festival opening, Leonn is still fine-tuning what will be on the choir’s setlist. But festivalgoers who gather round the Acoustic Stage at 5pm on the last day of the festival (Sunday 29 June) can expect a mix of songs.
‘We’ve been working on some new material, so we’ve been performing those songs quite a bit,’ he says. ‘Then we try to throw in a couple of songs that the audience may know and be able to sing along with. Last year, we did Blur’s “Tender”, which was special for the choir because we were on the original recording, and we had just performed
it with them at Wembley. We put a little gospel twist on it. It was a great audience participation song because the punters love Blur.
‘We’ve also got a Mariah Carey song that we’ve been performing, “Make it Happen”. And then we do a mixture of some traditional and contemporary gospel things that are easy for people to catch on to. We love to get people dancing and leave them with a good vibe.’
As well as talking about the music that LCGC sing, Leonn reveals that the choir have a long-established way of getting ready to go out on stage. The members gather together to reflect on what they are about to do – and they pray.
‘Our time of devotion is still a very
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important part of what we do,’ he says. ‘It helps us come together and regain our focus – that, although we are here to entertain, there is a higher intention in what we do.
‘When we go out on stage, we have a spiritual intention: to share the gospel, to share the love and to show all the good things that being a person of faith has. It always feels relevant to promote love, peace and unity among the crowd that we’re performing to, and our songs reflect that.
‘A lot of our new material talks about choosing peace, choosing to be in a good state of mind and being in a good spiritual place.
‘Our intention is to reach people who may not go to church or who haven’t had a spiritual experience and who may be going through hardships and don’t know how to overcome them. We want
people who may not even be religious to feel positive when they leave our performance. We hope they can relate to our own human experiences – because, as well as being Christians, we still have the kinds of experiences that everyone can relate to, such as having to pay bills, being in a bad relationship or struggling with work or friends or family. Those are real things that people go through, whether they are Christians or not.
The way the lyrics are delivered transforms them
‘S
o we try to tap into our own experience to encourage and inspire audiences so that when they leave Glastonbury, they can have a
positive impact in the workplace or home.’
A choir singing uplifting music, says Leonn, is perfect for having such an effect.
‘If you go to a football match and you hear one person screaming, it’s not going to have an impact. But if you hear 60,000 people screaming the same thing, it is powerful.
‘I’ve always said that God gives us tools and it’s up to us how we use them. A group of people singing at you with harsh words could be very negative. But having a group of people singing about how much they love you and want to see you do well – it’s going to give you goosebumps.
‘The lyrics are important, but the way they’re delivered is what transforms those words into something meaningful.
‘Gospel music is great because it speaks of love, it speaks of peace and it gives you a sense of hope. When gospel
LCGC backing Elton John on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury in 2023
LCGC with Damon Albarn in 2004 – the choir have performed with the musician a number of times, singing on the original recording of Blur’s ‘Tender’
music and a choir come together, the impact is unmatched.’
Leonn suggests that the uplifting message of the choir is summed up in songs such as their recently released ‘So Good to Me’, which he co-wrote and on which he sings lead.
‘It’s a reflection on God’s grace and mercy. It talks about how good God has been to me personally. I was basically saying that I know I am human, and I’ve done things wrong, but I’m still grateful for the blessings that I have been given – and I say to God, “You’re so good to me.”
‘A lot of the time I think we forget to show gratitude for what we have. It seems we’re always looking for so much more outside of what we need. We’re comparing ourselves to what we’re seeing elsewhere. Especially with social media, you’re constantly being fed this narrative of the cars, the houses, the money and the popularity you can achieve.
‘But sometimes you’ve got to think: I
don’t need all that to be happy or feel that I am loved.’
Leonn says that ‘So Good to Me’, which speaks about a ‘heavenly love’, is designed to give people hope. The scale of the need for such hopeful messages has been brought home to him through his experiences with another group of musicians.
We want to sing songs that are going to empower you
‘I
’ve been working with another band, called LZ7, which is very youth-based,’ he says. ‘We’ve been going out to a lot of schools and doing a lot of festivals. It wasn’t until I was working with LZ7 that I realised how troubled a lot of the kids and the youth currently are.
‘I’ve seen kids afraid to wear shortsleeved T-shirts because of the slashes on their wrists, kids crying because
they’ve come from such broken places. Whatever their background, religious or not, they are all going through the same kind of thing – bullying, suicidal thoughts, drug abuse, violence. And these are 10, 11, 12, 13-year-old kids.
‘It has literally brought me to tears when they have come to us after a show to thank us for going to their school because they had been thinking of killing themselves or taking out their anger on somebody else.
‘It helped me realise more that LCGC need to be writing songs not just for the church people who have already found God but for people who don’t understand what that experience really feels like.
‘We want to sing songs that are going to empower you to be the best person you can be, no matter what walk of life you are taking or whether you leave our show as an atheist – we want to give you hope and the understanding that, no matter what you go through, you can still come out the other side and blossom.’
talk talk Team talk Team talk ‘ ’ j TEA M TALK
WAR
Food bank family help up 46 per cent
Don’t let a milestone become a millstone
Sarah Olowofoyeku gives her take on a story that has caught the attention of War Cry reporters
The concern may seem niche, but it resonates for many of my peers. And it says something about a universal human experience. ‘Milestone anxiety’ was the subject of an article in The Independent, addressing in particular the feelings that can arise ahead of the summer, which is peak wedding season.
Writer Katie Rosseinsky compassionately described the time in a lot of young people’s lives when friends around them reach different milestones. If you are someone who isn’t achieving those things – buying a house, getting married or having children – it can be challenging. And, partly because of weddings, the differences seem to be most noticeable during summer.
‘The jumble of emotions elicited by this season can be difficult to unravel,’ Katie wrote. The happiness you might feel for your friends doesn’t negate ‘the insecurities and worries you might have about your own life choices’.
God has a unique plan for us all
She quoted psychotherapists who recognise the complexity of such a period, related to the linear expectations we have absorbed for our lives. They encourage us to acknowledge feelings, to accept where we are in our journeys and to celebrate what we have achieved.
This milestone anxiety can happen at any stage of our lives if we focus more on what other people are doing than on our own lives, or if we place too much value on external achievements. Some of us may even be guilty of creating pressure, for example by asking people when they are going to find a partner or have babies.
I’m grateful to have come to the realisation that I don’t have to follow the roadmap that society has seemingly prescribed. God has a unique plan for us all, which might include a wedding or it might not.
And all these milestones, though wonderful, will never satisfy us anyway. We tend to put the pressure of life fulfilment on a house, or a future partner and children.
But an identity rooted in who we are in God is the only thing that can be trusted to provide ultimate fulfilment, no matter what our circumstances may be.
This perspective helps me to celebrate others, look forward to whatever it is that God has in store for me, and trust that – whatever happens – I am enough because he says so.
More families with children are needing food parcels, according to new research by Trussell.
The Christian charity has revealed that there has been a 46 per cent increase in emergency food parcels for families with children and a 32 per cent rise in parcels to support families with children under five compared with five years ago.
Despite an 8 per cent decrease from last year’s record high in the total number of food parcels distributed, food banks continue to face huge demand, with one parcel being handed out every 11 seconds.
‘Thousands of families with children, single households and disabled people from across the UK needed to access food banks for emergency food in the past year,’ said Emma Revie, chief executive of Trussell. ‘A whole generation has now grown up in a country where sustained high levels of food bank need feel like the norm.’
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Musician has faith in words
Grammy-winning Christian musician Lecrae has collaborated with other artists to film a new music video and bring ‘life’ to a street corner in California notorious for its violence.
The song, ‘The Method’, features footage of Lecrae with fellow hiphop artists Miles Minnick and E-40 dancing on the street corner and rapping lyrics that speak of their personal faith, including their prayer life and gratitude to God.
In a post on Instagram, Lecrae said: ‘Lost some childhood friends and people I looked up to as a kid out here. I came back with some folks who put their rivalries to the side to show support. God is working. The notorious “4 corners of death” are getting Life.’
Race support runs on ‘cake and adrenaline’
In keeping with decades of tradition, churches opened their buildings to offer drinks and snacks to visitors attending the Isle of Man TT races, reported the BBC.
The online article explained that ‘the institution of TT Teas’ entails churches around the island opening up their halls and gardens ‘for spectators to enjoy tea, cake and pies’ during the races. The Union Mills Methodist Church has been offering the hospitality service for about 70 years.
‘Providing for our TT visitors is part of our community as a church,’ explained volunteer Fiona Collier.
Fiona also said that while the team of 40 church volunteers run on ‘cake, adrenaline and lack of sleep’, she was encouraged to hear visitors to the races saying that the kindness on show was ‘what the TT stands for’.
Golden moments for monk’s racing habit
A gold medal-winning octogenarian, nicknamed the ‘sprinting monk’, has been featured in The Times
Father John Gribben, who resides at the Community of the Resurrection monastery in West Yorkshire, won the title of 400m British champion for the over-80 category at the British Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships in London earlier this year.
He won with a time of 2min 3sec and was also awarded bronze medals for his appearances in the 60m and 200m races.
The article added that when John began running in the 1950s, his progress wasn’t promising – he nearly collapsed after his first outing. But now, he has completed more than 250 parkruns and runs up to five times a week.
He commented that sprinting fostered a spiritual feeling within him.
Spectators queue for refreshments at Union Mills Methodist Church
He said: ‘There’s something in the sprint, you hit one point where it is ecstasy, you’re outside yourself almost, when you hit that speed that carries you the last whatever you need to get to the line. Sometimes I just say to my Saviour, “Well I’ll run if you run with me.”’
Lecrae
Dentist brings some smiles to refugee camp
To mark Refugee Week, which runs until Sunday (22 June), dental surgeon ROBERT BANKS reflects on his experiences of treating patients at a refugee camp – and explains what motivates him in his work
Interview by Claire Brine
Rob and his wife, Ada
‘We are all God’s children –and we all need looking after,’ says dental surgeon Robert Banks, who earlier this year travelled from his home in Kent to the Greek island of Lesvos, where he and a team of humanitarian aid workers treated patients living in the Mavrovouni refugee camp.
‘The refugees who arrive on the shores
of Lesvos have been through trauma, danger and horrors that we can only imagine,’ Rob tells me over the phone, taking a short break between patient appointments at his dental practice in Ashford. ‘That’s why it’s important for us to offer help where we can. When a friend of mine told me about a humanitarian aid trip being run by Crisis Management Association, my thoughts were: “There’s a clear need. I have the skills to offer. I’ll go.” So my wife, Ada, and I ended up volunteering for a week at the refugee
Located seven miles off the Turkish coast, the island of Lesvos has been at the epicentre of the refugee crisis for the past decade. For individuals and families fleeing war and persecution in their home countries, the island is their gateway to Europe, where they hope to pursue a better, more peaceful life.
‘The refugee camp at Mavrovouni is a sanctuary,’ says Rob. ‘But it is not a home. Conditions there are basic. The refugees receive food once a day and water is
‘But despite the hardships they were facing, the people we met showed us such kindness. They were thankful and willing to
share the little they had with us. Right from the start, I could feel God’s presence.
‘On our first day at the camp, we had to go through various security checkpoints, which felt quite intimidating. Guards checked our passports like we were crossing a national border. Then, we were shown to the medical centre where we set up our equipment. Our dental surgery was basically the back of a shipping container.’
Though the working conditions were vastly different from what he was used to in his Ashford dental practice and his surgery on London’s Harley Street, Rob points out that the refugees requiring treatment were ‘ordinary people, just like you and me’.
He says: ‘We saw people from all walks
of life. Some of them had been bombed out of their homes, while others were fleeing persecution. The stories we heard were truly awful.
The refugees came from all kinds of backgrounds
‘But when we got to know the refugees, we learnt that some of them were teachers, doctors and architects. These were people from all kinds of backgrounds. And they had all ended up at the camp through no fault of their own.’
Assisted by Ada, who is a qualified
nurse, Rob provided dental treatment to around 30 patients a day. Many of them came from Somalia, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iran and Syria.
‘The refugee camp has quite a fluid population,’ explains Rob, ‘because Mavrovouni tends to be people’s first stop before they venture further into Europe. We were treating people of all ages –young children right up to adults in their late 60s. Sometimes we would have the aid of interpreters, and at other times we would use basic sign language and hand gestures to work out what a patient’s
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Rob and Ada felt God’s presence as they looked down upon the tents at the refugee camp, and (right) signs around the camp highlight the aid work
The refugee camp on the shore of
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problems were.
‘The aim for us was always to get patients out of pain. We couldn’t do anything too advanced because we didn’t have the necessary equipment, but our work was about providing pain relief, treating infection and just helping people to feel better.
‘We did quite a lot of smile repairs too, because many refugees had lost teeth on their journeys or as a result of suffering abuse. We tried to give them back a little bit of their dignity – and offer them some hope.’
When the dental treatment enabled patients to find relief from their physical pain, Rob was delighted. He was pleased
to know that his skills could make such a positive difference in the lives of vulnerable people.
‘If your life has been turned upside down by war or persecution and you need to leave your home, the last thing you want is to be feeling ill as well,’ he says. ‘And in dentistry we are fortunate that we can make a lot of our patients feel better quite quickly. We can carry out procedures that make a fairly rapid change. And that immediate relief can help people to turn a corner. Life feels a bit more manageable when you’re not feeling rough.
‘For me, treating patients at a refugee camp is the most wonderful privilege.
You can see the relief – physically – on people’s faces. Once the pain has drained away, the big smiles that you see are fantastic.’
Working at a number of refugee camps over the years, Rob has found a sense of joy in caring for patients. But seeing what people have been through can also be tough.
‘I remember one little guy who sat in the operating chair and he didn’t move a muscle,’ says Rob. ‘His eyes were vacant. When we gave him an injection so that we could do the treatment, it was like he just wasn’t present. You could see the trauma in this poor little kid’s eyes.
‘Another patient who sticks in my mind was in her late 20s and had lost one of her front teeth. It had been smashed out of her mouth when she was fleeing war.
‘When she came in to see us, I could see that she was a beautiful young woman wearing a brightly coloured hijab, but she was hiding her mouth. And she had a vacant look in her eyes.
The patient said: ‘May God bless your hands’
‘W e got to work on rebuilding her front teeth, and when she looked in the mirror afterwards, tears began to roll down her face. She was so grateful. And then she said to me, through the interpreter: “May God bless your hands.” I’ve never forgotten her words. It was a very moving moment for me.’
Rob believes that helping refugees is a key part of putting his Christian faith into action. Every time he signs up for a new humanitarian aid trip, he is supported by the congregation at his Salvation Army church in Tunbridge Wells.
‘Being a Christian means that you’ve got a God-given motivation to do good and help others where you can,’ he explains. ‘I’m always struck by Jesus’ words in the Bible: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink... Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
‘Those words encapsulate everything. If I get the opportunity to volunteer on
Before his trip to the refugee camp, Rob packed up a suitcase containing dental supplies
refugee camps – something that not many people get to do – then I will do it. I love doing it.’
Rob’s time at the Mavrovouni refugee camp exposed him to countless stories of unimaginable pain and loss, but he explains that he also experienced the presence of God every day – often shown through the kind actions of others.
‘From a hill, I’d look down over the camp and see God at work through all the aid volunteers who were getting stuck in,’ he says. ‘Obviously Ada and I were there to provide medical care, but there were lots of other organisations providing support as well.
‘One group that we’ve got to know is
a Dutch outfit called Because We Carry. Volunteers would meet the refugee boats when they reached the shore and provide baby carriers to mothers with young children. It was such a practical way to offer help, seeing as it’s impossible to get a buggy on a dinghy.
‘The charity were also important for Ada and me because we were able to give them a couple of suitcases filled with children’s clothes and shoes that had been donated by the parent-and-toddler group at Tunbridge Wells Salvation Army. When we delivered the items to the charity’s base, it was great to see the work they were doing.’
Though he travelled to the Mavrovouni
refugee camp with the aim of showing ‘a little bit of God’s love’ to the people he met, Rob found that the experiences he faced, and the conversations shared, ended up enriching his own faith in a way he couldn’t have imagined. He and Ada are booked to return to the camp in October.
‘The trip opened my eyes to the many ways in which God can use people to show love to others,’ he says. ‘It showed me how much we can make a difference in the world.
‘I went to the refugee camp because I thought that I had useful skills to offer –but the experience ended up blessing me beyond my wildest dreams.’
Rob and Ada treated patients together
Your prayers are requested for Luke, who has hurt his shoulder.
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
The prophets
The final 17 books of the Old Testament comprise the section known as ‘the prophets’.
Apart from Jonah, the books and the messages they contain are set within historical contexts, all of which occur after the division of David and Solomon’s kingdom. Covering events from about 750BC to 350BC, they are defined by three seismic events – Assyria’s defeat of the northern kingdom of Israel, Babylon’s exiling of the southern kingdom of Judah and the post-exilic return of Jews to Jerusalem.
Throughout the prophetic books, there are references to Judah, Israel and Samaria, which may sometimes appear as interchangeable. As a rule of thumb, Judah refers to the southern kingdom, based in Jerusalem. Israel is the northern kingdom, based in the town of Samaria. But Israel is wiped out by Assyria. So, after the Babylonian exile, the former Judah becomes known as Israel and the former Israel is referred to as Samaria.
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.
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The prophets Amos and Hosea address the pre-Assyrian Israel. Nahum prophesies to the Assyrian city of Nineveh. Obadiah targets the nation of Edom. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Micah, Habakkuk and Zephaniah speak to preexile Judah. Prophets of the exilic and post-exilic period are Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.
Whoever the intended audience, the prophet has the same dual role. Called to be God’s spokesperson, a prophet is to tell the word of God and, sometimes, to foretell the works of God. Divine insights are gained through visions and expressed through figurative language. Most times, the prophet is a plain speaker. Many pronouncements are warnings, reminding the reader that actions have consequences. Many have an immediate social, religious, political or historical context and are fulfilled within the prophet’s lifetime.
In predictive terms, the major prophetic theme is that of the Messiah. Many prophets foretell the coming of a national redeemer, a saviour, a divinely anointed king who will establish God’s rule on Earth through the nation of Israel.
For today’s Jews, the Messiah has yet to come. Christians, though, believe that Jesus is the Messiah and that one day he will return to establish God’s Kingdom in complete fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy.
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QUICK QUIZ
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What is the title of the recently published memoir by blink-182 member Mark Hoppus?
Who played the title role in the 1976 film Rocky?
Boxer, pomeranian and dobermann are types of which animal?
Which transport network’s logo features a red roundel with a blue bar across the middle?
Which Britain’s Got Talent contestant reached No 1 in 2009 with her album I Dreamed a Dream?
According to the tradition, how many colours are there in a rainbow?
Write on
National campaign promotes the benefits of creative writing
Feature by Ewan Hall
It’s time to write the next chapter in the history of National Writing Day, an annual event that invites people of all ages to pick up their pens – or go to their keyboards – and set down their thoughts and ideas. Supporters of the day, which this year falls on Wednesday (25 June), say they hope to remind people that writing is about selfexpression, creativity and enjoyment.
It seems that they have some work to do. According to research published by the National Literacy Trust, back in 2023, only a third of young people aged 8 to 18 enjoyed writing in their free time. By last year that enjoyment had dropped further, with fewer than 3 in 10 saying that they wrote for pleasure – although, by contrast, more than half the young people said they enjoyed writing in the structured environment of school.
In an endeavour to get people writing outside the classroom, National Writing Day offers some ideas. It suggests starting a poem with a famous opening line or reflecting on a childhood object to inspire a personal story.
The National Literacy Trust is keen to promote writing in daily life because it believes that putting down words can benefit people’s mental wellbeing and inspire creativity.
Writing can also be a good way to express thoughts and feelings. Jotting things down can add clarity to memories and emotions, and it can help people to process experiences, good and bad.
It’s what people have been doing for thousands of years. The Bible is full of the words of people who used prose and poetry to record their memories, feelings and experiences of following God. One piece of poetry to be found in its pages describes God as ‘our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble’ (Psalm 46:1 New International Version).
If we put our faith in God, he can help us tackle our struggles and find answers to some of the questions we may have – showing us how to write a new chapter in our lives.
HANNAH
PUZZLES
ACROSS
1. Downcast (4)
3. Douse (3)
5. Hunt (4)
7. Multiply by four (9)
9. Pull (4)
10. Leg joint (4)
11. Mythological young woman (5)
14. Body trunk (5)
15. Decorate (5)
17. Muddle (3-2)
18. Musical play (5)
19. Punitive (5)
20. Obscurely (5)
23. Overcast (4)
25. Touch (4)
27. Child (9)
28. Soft cheese (4)
29. Beam (3)
30. Stumble (4) DOWN
1. Deep cut (4)
2. Handle roughly (4)
3. Uncertain (5)
4. Corpulent (5)
5. Be grumpy (4)
6. Curly cabbage (4)
7. Every three months (9)
Quick CROSSWORD ANSWERS
Wanderer (5)
Precept (5)
Joyous (5)
Also (3)
Nought (3)
Lantern (4) 8. Meet (9)
21. Interior (5)
Vigorous (5)
Smear (4)
Adore (4)
Exploit (4)
Each solution starts on the coloured cell and reads clockwise round the number HONEYC O M B
Look up, down, forwards, backwards and diagonally on the grid to find these words associated with joy
Torso. 15. Adorn.
Mix-up. 18. Opera.
Penal. 20. Dimly. 23. Dull.
Feel. 27. Youngster. 28. Brie. 29. Ray. 30. Trip.
Dodgy.
Belong.
Stream.
Adhere.
Braised cod with vegetables
INGREDIENTS
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4.
MAKES 3
200g baby Chantenay carrots, halved lengthways
300ml low-salt vegetable stock
200g frozen peas
6 spring onions, chopped 15g fresh dill
2 x 150g cod steaks
1tsp cornflour, dissolved in 1tbsp water
20g light cream cheese
Black pepper
INGREDIENTS
350g potatoes, cubed
1 parsnip, cubed
25g low-fat spread
4tbsp milk
Freshly ground black pepper
1tsp oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, grated
100g green cabbage, shredded
METHOD
Place the carrots in a saucepan along with the stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat. Cover with a lid and simmer for 5 minutes.
Pour the carrots and stock into an ovenproof dish. Add the peas, spring onions and 10g dill.
Place the cod steaks on top, then cover the dish with foil and bake for 10 minutes.
Once cooked, remove the fish and set aside on a plate. Add the cornflour mixture to the vegetable dish. Mix well and return to the oven for 1 minute.
Remove the vegetables from the oven and stir in the cream cheese, then divide between 2 plates and place the cod steaks on top. Scatter the remaining dill over the cod, along with the black pepper. Serve with lemon wedges.
Bubble and squeak
Cook the potatoes and parsnip in boiling water for 15 minutes. Drain, then return to the pan. Mash with the low-fat spread and milk until smooth. Season well.
Heat the oil in a frying pan, then add the onion, carrot and cabbage and cook for 5 minutes. Stir into the mash and form 3 patties.
Fry the patties for 5 minutes, turning them halfway through cooking.
Serve the bubble and squeak with poached eggs and rocket leaves.
Jim Kaveney