Raising the steaks
Yoko Ono’s Salvation Army visit remembered Emma Willis and Tom Allen serve up Cooking with the Stars
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.
WAR CRY
Editor: Andrew Stone, Major
Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow
Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku
Staff Writer: Emily Bright
Staff Writer: Claire Brine
Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk
Graphic Designer: Rodney Kingston
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
Founder: William Booth
General: Lyndon Buckingham
Territorial leaders: Commissioners Jenine and Paul Main
Editor-in-Chief: Major Julian Watchorn
weekly by The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory ISSN 0043-0226 The Salvation Army Trust is a registered charity. The charity number in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 214779, in Scotland SC009359 and in the Republic of Ireland CHY6399.
From the editor’s desk
It’s that time of year when schools across the UK are closed for the summer holiday. Although dates for the break vary in different parts of the country, the beginning of August is widely lesson-free.
While this is good news for some children, the holidays can be challenging, with parents facing childcare issues and the lack of free school dinners stretching family budgets. And the approaching return to school can also be a problem if costly new uniforms are needed.
‘My toddler was starting nursery and my older two children were going into the next year of primary school and I hadn’t got their uniform organised,’ single mum Teresa (not her real name) says in this week’s issue. ‘I was thinking about how I was going to do this as the uniforms are so expensive.’
Teresa found help, though, through a scheme to alleviate clothing poverty run by The Salvation Army in central London. As we report, she is one of more than 300 people who have benefitted from the community wardrobe in the past year.
The Salvation Army has helped families and children throughout its history. At one time, it provided support for children whose families could not look after them by running residential children’s homes.
One of those homes, Strawberry Field in Liverpool, was the inspiration for a Beatles song. John Lennon remembered the times he attended the home’s garden parties and heard the Salvation Army band play.
Those memories were so important to him that, after his death, his widow, Yoko Ono, took their son Sean to see Strawberry Field. They were shown round by Major David Botting, who recalls the visit, and the impact it had on Yoko, in this week’s issue.
‘She said,’ he recalls, ‘that when she had been at Strawberry Field in Liverpool, she felt there was such a sense of peace and care and love.’
Those qualities come from the key values of the Christian faith that guide The Salvation Army in all that it does to help those who find life a challenge.
by CKN Print, Northampton, on sustainably sourced paper
INFO INFO
Your local Salvation Army centre
There
can
Too many cooks
The heat was on for eight celebrities.
When the fourth series of ITV1’s Cooking with the Stars began on Tuesday (30 July), the first batch of personalities went head-to-head in an attempt to improve their amateur kitchen skills and win the golden frying pan.
Starting the competition – under the watchful eyes of presenters Emma Willis and Tom Allen – were model Abbey Clancy, whose four kids aren’t fans of her food, and broadcaster Carol Vorderman, who said that she had fallen out of love with cooking. Their task was to prepare a dinner-party dish chosen by their professional chef mentors, who taught them how to cook it.
Michael Caines helped Abbey perfect a sirloin steak with potatoes. Tony Singh turned up the heat for Carol with a more complicated salmon coulibiac. With both the straightforward and the complex dish, it all boiled down to precision. One error and the stars ran the risk of spoiling the whole dinner.
After receiving their instructions, they got back in the studio to recreate their
only be
one winner on ITV’s Cooking with the Stars
TV feature by Sarah Olowofoyeku
dish in one hour – this time on their own. However, if they did get in a pickle, they could bang the golden pan gong to call in their mentor, who was allowed to chip in for two minutes.
As the timer ticked, the pressure was on. Abbey and Carol rushed round their kitchen stations, working to make sure they made no mis-steaks, before presenting their plates to the other six chefs for judging. Carol ended up in the cook-off after receiving fewer votes.
It was the same order for the next two contestants: social media personality Harry Pinero and former Strictly dancer Pasha Kovalev. Harry’s chef mentor Michael O’Hare spiced things up with new methods involving a hairdryer to prepare a roast duck. And Pasha was working with more flavour than usual to make his mentor April Jackson’s tandoori cauliflower.
By the end of the episode, Harry had joined Carol in the cook-off, and only one of them survived.
While the competition is not a piece of
cake, the atmosphere on the show is one of camaraderie. The contestants and the chefs cheer each other on.
Perhaps the fun they are having can be light relief from the strains of viewers’ real lives, because, for many people, the mistakes they make really can be costly, they are under pressure and they genuinely need help. Day-to-day life comes with all sorts of tests, such as dealing with family drama, seeking employment, trying to make ends meet or struggling with mental or physical health.
Yet some people have found that real relief is available. Christians in all sorts of walks of life are able to call in help from God with a word of prayer.
The Bible – a book they look to for instruction – includes these words: ‘You will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: here am I’ (Isaiah 58:9 New International Version).
When we put our trust in God, his help has no limit. It is available for the whole of our lives and for whatever predicaments we end up in. Our only task is to ask for it.
Eight celebrities ready to try their hand at winning in the kitchen
j TEA M TALK
Cool: calm collected through sanctuary at home
Emily Bright gives her take on a story that has caught the attention
of War Cry reporters
Irony brings me joy. So when my editor encouraged me to write a comment piece on calm within a tight deadline, I smiled.
He flagged up an interview feature on the BBC Bitesize web pages, in which Loughborough University psychologist Dr David Maidment revealed ‘five simple ways to create a sanctuary at home’.
Step one, he says, is keeping greenery in view. Plants play a role in ‘lowering anxiety and improving sleep quality’ by providing an antidote to our stress hormone cortisol. I’m no Monty Don, but I’m in.
Soothing scents can help too. David believes that odours can ‘cast us back to when, maybe, we were younger or in a happier time’. And a 2018 study in Japan, cited in the article, found that ‘certain smells – like lavender – can act like a medication against anxiety, calming down activity in the brain’. So I’ve moved a pot of lavender to my desk for a spot of botanical therapy. It seems to be working.
Plants play a role in lowering anxiety
WAR talk talk Team talk Team talk
The psychologist offers a third tip – setting aside a smaller space where we can cocoon ourselves away and relax.
He also encourages readers to lower their exposure to blue light – which is found in TV, laptop and mobile phone screens – before bed, as it’s difficult for our eyes to filter, making sleep harder to come by.
The last recommendation is to embrace different ‘colours’ of noise, which sounds more like an assault on the senses than a source of calm. But David explains that Brown noise – named after a botanist, Robert Brown, and referring to low frequency sounds like a waterfall rumbling or very heavy rain – relaxes us.
It’s striking that much of the psychologist’s advice stems back to nature, which is frequently referenced in the Bible. I’m reminded of one passage, which says of God: ‘He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength’ (Psalm 23:2 and 3 New Living Translation).
Scientific tips have their place, but ultimately, I’ve discovered that the calm many of us are searching for can be found by resting in God’s presence, being fully loved and fully known. He is our true sanctuary.
Doctor gets on his bike for fundraiser
A doctor has prescribed himself a new challenge: taking on a 70.3-mile triathlon to raise funds for a Salvation Army community centre in Sunderland.
Dr Rory Mackinnon is competing in the Half Geordieman, which takes place on 1 September. To complete the challenge, participants must swim 1.2 miles, cycle for 56 miles and finish with a 13.1-mile run.
The GP is raising funds for The Salvation Army’s Austin House Family Centre, which is located near his medical practice.
The centre runs lunch clubs, afterschool groups and an Employment Plus service, as well as classes for cookery and fitness. It also provides people with discounted food and hosts a group which provides people with a space to socialise.
Dr Mackinnon said: ‘A lot of my patients know of or visit Austin House so they will be able to see the money is going towards something tangible, something related to them.’
Dr Rory Mackinnon
WAR CRY
Gladiator ready for priesthood
Warren Furman – known to millions as Ace in the ’90s TV series Gladiators – has become a vicar, reported The Sun.
According to the article, Warren was ordained as a priest at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, along with his wife, Dionne. The ceremony was performed by the Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mullally.
Warren was quoted as saying: ‘While I was in the TV show, I always put faith in myself. Now I put my faith in God.
‘I’ve gone from TV’s Gladiator to God’s gladiator, while Dionne has gone from flying high as cabin crew manager with Virgin Atlantic to reaching for the sky in the name of Jesus.’
Warren’s first role as a vicar will be at the Holy Trinity Brompton church in west London.
Fern’s peace from angelic encounter
TV presenter Fern Britton has revealed how God helped her through the darkness of depression.
Speaking to Sean Fletcher on Songs of Praise, the former This Morning presenter recalled feeling ‘very upset’ one night in her early 20s, which doctors would later diagnose as her first bout of depression. She was stuck in a job she hated and struggled with a sense of isolation. Fern said she always had a faith in God and that night had a miraculous encounter.
She remembered: ‘It was back in 1979 so I didn’t have a phone in the flat, I obviously didn’t have a mobile phone to ring my mum, I didn’t have enough money to buy a stamp to write a letter to say please come and get me, nothing.
‘So I was looking around my flat to see if I had enough tablets or
Historic church makes the grade
A Cornish church associated with one of the UK’s best-known sea rescues has been given protected status, The Guardian reports.
Historic England awarded St Mary’s Church in Cadgwith a grade II listing, highlighting how it was linked to the rescue of 456 passengers and crew from the ocean liner SS Suevic, which ran aground on nearby rocks in 1907.
The church’s first vicar, the Rev Henry Vyvyan, was a crew member on the Cadgwith lifeboat, Minnie Moon, which came to the liner’s aid. He was awarded a silver medal by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution for the role that he played in the rescue, which holds the record for the largest number of people saved in a single RNLI operation.
Historic England added that St Mary’s also has architectural importance. The 19th-century church is a rare surviving example of a ‘tin tabernacle’, a prefabricated corrugated iron building developed decades earlier to enable places of worship to be established cheaply.
Redressing clothing poverty
Once described as ‘the leading shopping capital of Europe’, Oxford Street generated £3.1 billion in retail sales last year. Yet the reality for many residents of London’s West End is that even buying school uniforms is a financial stretch. Thankfully, The Salvation Army’s Regent Hall church, just along from Oxford Circus, is right up their street. It runs a community wardrobe to alleviate financial pressures on families.
Single mum Teresa knew such pressures well. Juggling looking after three children with an administrative job, she already found life challenging. But when she began caring for her parents full-time, she had to give up work, pushing her finances to the brink.
‘I prioritise my children, but with the cost of living and everything going up in price it’s really difficult to meet their needs on a daily basis,’ she explains. ‘This also has an effect mentally. You feel like you’re constantly thinking about money, and you feel like you’re not really living, you’re more just surviving.’
After she was referred to a local church food bank, Teresa heard about Regent Hall’s community wardrobe, which she describes as ‘a fantastic help’.
‘I vividly remember how I felt before I came to the community wardrobe – I was so sad,’ she says. ‘My toddler was starting nursery and my older two children were going into the next year of primary school, and I hadn’t got
A Salvation Army community wardrobe in London’s West End is setting a new shopping trend to ease financial pressures on families
Feature by Emily Bright
Emma Neill, Majors Liz and Geoff Chape and volunteer Sonia Knight at Regent Hall’s community wardrobe
their uniform organised. I was thinking about how I was going to do this, as the uniforms are so expensive. I prayed and asked God for help. I felt so down and really alone.’
Out of the blue she received a call from Emma Neill, the community engagement lead at Regent Hall, who warmly invited her to the community wardrobe. ‘I felt such a relief. It was more than I could have asked for,’ Teresa recalls.
‘I was really nervous the day I visited the community wardrobe, as I struggle to ask for help and wondered if I would be judged. However, I was made to feel special. It was almost like a personal shopping experience! I got the uniforms, and I even got clothes for myself – it was the first time in six years that I had got something for myself. Emma made me feel seen and that I mattered. I was so thrilled when I left.’
We want to give people dignity
The community wardrobe opened last summer after the church team established that one of the major costs facing parents was school uniforms. The enterprise covers clothing for children from nursery age to the end of secondary school and has now expanded into suits for young people’s interviews and items for parents.
People are referred through food banks, the council, community centres and refugee agencies. They can book an appointment to visit the community wardrobe, which has increased its opening hours from one to two days a week to cope with demand. All items are free, but those who come can make a small donation if they wish.
Partnerships with department store John Lewis and real estate companies CBRE, Grosvenor Estates and Peabody have provided a welcome funding boost for the church’s outreach project, as well as volunteers, who work alongside members of the congregation.
‘These companies invest themselves in this financially, with volunteers and with time, giving us opportunities that we wouldn’t have had otherwise to reach into the communities,’ says Major Geoff Chape, who leads the church with his wife, Major Liz Chape.
The idea has taken off in a big way. As
of June this year, more than 300 people had been supported by the community wardrobe. Among them were 146 children, with at least 90 of them being given school uniforms.
Geoff explains that ‘people tell us what they’re looking for before they arrive, so we can have something ready for them. For instance, we’ve been looking at the supply of hijabs, to recognise our multicultural society.’
Private appointments are an important part of the initiative.
‘We want to give people dignity,’ Liz says. ‘The volunteers deal personally with each attendee and are getting to know the families.’
Volunteers are also able to signpost people to further support, and to build a sense of community among people from all walks of life.
Liz says: ‘People appreciate that they can have just a lovely one-to-one
conversation with volunteers who are friendly and open. The community wardrobe is a place where it’s safe to come and where people are recognised and valued.’
The initiative has been a springboard for other activities too.
‘We set up a Stay and Play day during half-term for families that had accessed the community wardrobe,’ says Liz. ‘They could enjoy some good food, crafts and games. The parents were able to make new friends and get to know us as well.’
Regent Hall has become a powerful presence within the community. And at its heart, Liz says, is ‘the phrase that The Salvation Army has been using, “Love God, love others”, which really sums up what we’re about’.
l Teresa’s name has been changed
The community wardrobe offers clothing for children and their parents
Let me take you down
A limited edition record donated by Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon has been put on temporary display at Strawberry Field in Liverpool, highlighting the link between the Beatles and the Salvation Army site –a connection that was reinforced 40 years ago when Major DAVID BOTTING met Yoko and Sean during their visit to the city where John Lennon grew up
Interview by Philip Halcrow
On a winter’s day in Liverpool in 1984, Salvation Army officer David Botting got ready to welcome Yoko Ono and eight-year-old Sean Ono Lennon –’cause they were going to Strawberry Field. John Lennon’s widow and their son were in the city and wanted to visit a place forever associated with a Beatles song. In 1984, The Salvation Army’s Strawberry Field was a children’s home. Today, it still offers young people the opportunity of a good future by providing training for those who may face barriers to employment.
The Beatles link too is still strong. Every year the place that inspired the song ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ welcomes visitors to its Beatles exhibition, which includes archive photographs and documents, the piano on which John Lennon composed his song ‘Imagine’ –on loan from George Michael’s estate – and, thanks to a recent donation to The Salvation Army by Yoko and Sean,
a limited edition 12-inch acetate of John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band single ‘Give Peace a Chance’, which has gone on display before being sold to raise further funds for the work of the site. Earlier this year it also unveiled a commemorative stone marking the day when Yoko and Sean visited.
Now living in retirement on the south coast of England, Major David Botting has been remembering the visit – in fact, two visits – that Yoko and Sean made 40 years ago to the site where he was the officer-incharge. On that day and over the next few years, he caught more glimpses of what Strawberry Field had meant to John and what it came to mean to Yoko.
The connection between the Beatles and Strawberry Field was already well established by the time that David began working at the children’s home in 1977.
In 1967, the song ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ had been coupled with ‘Penny Lane’ in a Beatles double A-side single
focused on the group’s Liverpool reminiscences.
‘When he was growing up, John lived with his Aunt Mimi just down the road from Strawberry Field,’ says David. ‘Every year, they would come to the garden parties that were held there. He and his friends would also jump over the wall and sit in the trees and watch the children.
John had promised to bring Sean to Liverpool
‘The “Strawberry Fields Forever” single was all about the area in which he had lived, and when he linked up with Yoko and they had their son, Sean, and moved to New York, he often used to talk about Strawberry Field.
‘Later – after Yoko and Sean had visited – I used to pop in to see his Aunt Mimi down near Bournemouth, where John had
David Botting looks back on the visit of Yoko and Sean
as it was when the young John Lennon played in its grounds
bought her a house and where I had family. She said to me that in the last phone call she had with John, they had been remembering Strawberry Field.
‘John had promised Sean that one day he would bring him to Liverpool and show him the places where he lived. Sadly, John was shot before it could happen. So Yoko decided that she would come and show Sean his roots.’
On a January day with snow still on the ground, Yoko and Sean visited some of the significant places in John’s city, including Strawberry Field.
‘It was only the day before that I knew
they were going to come,’ says David. ‘I forget how I was told, but I did say that the children wouldn’t be here, because they had to be at school. Anyway I wouldn’t want a situation where they would be surrounded by TV cameras and radio all wanting to talk with them.
‘But I said that if Yoko came, we’d talk with her and show her round and let her see what we do.’
Since it opened in 1936, Strawberry Field had been caring for children – at first just for girls, but from the 1950s onwards for boys too.
‘Some Beatles history books talk about
it as an orphanage, but it never was,’ says David. ‘The children came to us from the local authority and they were from broken homes or they had had problems at school or they had behavioural problems that the parents couldn’t cope with – that sort of thing. But all of them had a relative or some family, and we used to try our best to keep these links.
‘In some cases, the parents really didn’t want to know, but for most of the children there was still a family link.’
David explains that the home was divided
Strawberry Field
David with Yoko and Sean in 1984
into family units, each with 12 youngsters living in it.
‘We called them “family units”,’ he says, ‘because we didn’t want the place to be thought of as just another residential home – we wanted it to be more a family. And within those family units we tried to keep brothers and sisters living together.’
The site had changed since the years when John Lennon had played in its grounds. The original Victorian building had been replaced by modern buildings, and in 1979 some additional accommodation had been opened, originally known as Strawberry Court but later renamed – with Yoko’s permission –Lennon Court.
‘These shared flats were to prepare the older children for going out into the community themselves. They would go over there and live for anything up to 18 months. They would get themselves up in the morning and make themselves breakfast. It was an opportunity to practise their skills of looking after themselves.’
David remembers that it was fairly early on 24 January 1984 when ‘a few cars pulled up, and out came Yoko with Sean and her bodyguards’. And with them came the press.
‘I showed Yoko round, and she was very interested in what we were seeking to do. She came into the office, and we continued to talk. Then just before she left, she said she would like to see the children. I explained that the children had had to go to school. She said: “If I come back, just on my own with Sean, could we see the children?”
‘I said: “If there’s no press, I’m quite happy for you to come and meet the
family.” She said that that was what she would do.
‘But the nice thing was that before she went, I asked: “Would you mind if I prayed with you?” She said: “Oh, please.”
‘So she sat, with Sean tucked between her legs, and we shared a little prayer together.
‘She thanked me and said that they would see me later.
‘Suddenly, as they were going towards the door, little Sean turned round, looked at me, ran back to me, threw his arms around me and said: “Thank you.” I thought that was really sweet.
‘So off they went and visited some of the sights of Liverpool.’
When Yoko and Sean returned that evening, they had kept their promise: there was no press with them.
‘The children were excited. Yoko spoke to them and signed autographs for them. She was really interested in the children. Sean was taken with the white boxer dog that we had at the time, and he was playing with the children. They stayed for about 45 minutes, and it was a lovely time.
She felt there was a sense of peace
‘I’ll
always remember what she said to the children before she left – that John was just an ordinary Liverpool lad who made something of himself. She encouraged the children that they could be anything they wanted to be if they had real desire and worked at it. And that was a good thing for the children to hear.
‘So off they went. But for a number of years after that, Yoko would send presents for the youngsters at Christmas, and I used to get cards. Yoko was very kind to the children. She took them to heart.’
As time went on, David learnt more of how Yoko was touched by Strawberry Field.
Just over a year and a half after their visit, a memorial to John was officially opened in New York’s Central Park. Conceptual artist Yoko had invited countries around the world to send plants
Sean ‘was taken with’ Patch, the boxer dog
Accommodation that was named in honour of John Lennon
for the creation of a peace garden, at the centre of which was a mosaic forming the word ‘Imagine’. The space was given the name Strawberry Fields.
The following year ITV series The Human Factor broadcast a documentary about the connection between the two sites. It followed David as he was flown out to New York.
‘I met with Yoko and we walked in the memorial garden,’ he remembers. ‘She was asked why she had done it. She said that when she had been at Strawberry Field in Liverpool, she felt there was such a sense of peace and care and love, and she wanted the people of New York to have a place where they could go to find peace and to feel that someone cared for them.
young people who faced barriers to employment.
‘She wanted to try to get something of the atmosphere of Liverpool’s Strawberry Field over to New York.’
In the many years since David left Strawberry Field to take up a new appointment, there have been many changes. In 2005, as wider ideas about how best to care for children altered, Strawberry Field closed as a children’s home. But it was only a temporary ending for The Salvation Army’s ministry at the site – it returned with a mission to train
‘The lovely thing is that it is carrying on what we had sought to do when we were running the children’s home,’ says David. ‘I’ve been up to visit a couple of times and learnt about the work with young people who have learning difficulties – and they’ve also really made it a place where people can enjoy the Beatles link through the exhibition and where they can walk in the gardens and find places to ponder and meditate. Every day there’s also a prayer gathering and people can ask for prayers.
‘They have tried to make it a place of sanctuary.’
David believes that the special ethos at Strawberry Field is ‘absolutely’ down to the fact that its work has always been built on faith in God.
‘The basis of the gospel is love,’ he says. ‘It’s about our relationship with each other and our relationship with our heavenly Father. One of the lovely things was that when I was able to talk to the children individually, I was occasionally able to say that – despite everything that had happened to them – we all have a heavenly Father who cares for us and who loves us for who we are.’
George, Ringo, John and Paul in 1967
Major Kathy Versfeld, mission director at Strawberry Field, and beneficiaries of the present work with the ‘Give Peace a Chance’ disc
Your prayers are requested for Sunny, who wants to be together with her daughter. 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’.
jBecoming 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
Lord Jesus Christ, I am truly sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong.
Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free.
Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Holy Spirit. Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever.
Thank you, Lord Jesus.
Amen
a thouNow, ther NO W, THERE’S A THOUGHT!
by Jim Burns
Kind of good news
It seems that positivity is in short supply these days, so when my friend Pauline asked if I wanted to hear some good news for a change, I was not going to say no.
The story was that Pauline and her friend were in a café. When she sat down, she put her walking stick beside her, which fell and hit the man at the next table. It wasn’t a problem, and they engaged in some banter. Later Pauline and her friend went to pay for their meal, but the waitress said there was no charge.
The waitress said there was no charge
‘Why?’ they asked. She told them that the man beside them had paid for their meal along with his. Pauline wanted to thank him, but he had already left. They learnt that the man is a regular customer and often settles other diners’ bills. But he always leaves before they find out. When we met a few days later Pauline had more good news. She had heard of an elderly woman in the supermarket who couldn’t remember her card’s PIN at the checkout. After several attempts, the woman became quite flustered and asked the shop assistant to put the groceries behind the till while she went home to get the PIN. At this, a young woman behind her in the queue insisted on helping and paid for all the older woman’s shopping.
I can only imagine what a lift the gesture gave her. And other shoppers were certainly moved as they shared the story with other people – that’s how I came to hear about it.
Christians believe that acts of kindness should be the norm. Jesus said: ‘Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them… Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never … regret it… Our Father is kind; you be kind’ (Luke 6:31, 35 and 36 The Message).
The good news is that any of us can ask to experience the kindness of God. He will not withhold it from us – and we will easily be able to share it with others.
To receive basic reading about Christianity and information about The Salvation Army, complete this coupon and send it to
War Cry 1 Champion Park London SE5 8FJ
Or email your name and postal address to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk
Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International
QUICK QUIZ
1 2 3 4 5 6
Which French artist showed his painting Impression, Sunrise at a landmark exhibition in 1874?
Who wrote the novel Frankenstein?
In which year did British runner Eric Liddell win his Olympic gold medal?
Who played the Doctor in the latest series of BBC1’s Doctor Who?
What is the capital of the Philippines?
Who had a No 1 hit album earlier this year with Bitter Sweet Love?
Mary Shelley. 3. 1924.
It’sA nation’s celebrations
Welsh people get together to salute their culture
Feature
by Sarah Olowofoyeku
time to make a song and dance about Wales. The Eisteddfod begins this weekend. The national celebration of Welsh culture lasts for a week and features arts and crafts, music, comedy, sports, dance, drama, literature, competitions and more. This year’s festival is being held in Rhondda Cynon Taf in southeast Wales.
Organisations and businesses will be occupying about 150 stands and stalls on the Maes – which means ‘field’ in English – selling their wares and promoting their products.
But the main attraction is the competitions. More than 5,000 groups and individuals will take part in 200 competitive events in disciplines including classical hymn singing, brass band playing and poetry.
The competitions keep the festival closely linked to its history. In 1176 Lord Rhys hosted the first known eisteddfod, holding two major competitions in poetry and in music at Cardigan Castle. Similar tournaments were held in later centuries, before experiencing a decline. But then, in 1861, the first official National Eisteddfod took place.
Since then, the festival has been postponed only three times – at the start of the First World War, and in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
As well as culture and competition, this year the festival is showing a commitment to care. It is encouraging visitors to support a local food pantry for struggling families by bringing supplies.
Over the years in many cultures and countries, gatherings such as the Eisteddfod have provided opportunities for people with common interests to cheer on, champion and show concern for each other. The desire to connect with those around us is part of human nature, no matter which nation we are from.
It’s why all over the world millions of people also gather regularly –across languages and nationalities – to celebrate their shared faith in Jesus. It’s a faith that gives meaning to their lives and offers hope for the future.
And the invitation to experience those benefits is open to anyone.
PUZZLES SUDOKU
Quick
1. Dull (4)
3. Gratuity (3)
5. Moderately hot (4) 7. Possession (9) 9. Tug (4) 10. Seize (4) 11. Restrain (5)
14. Irritable (5) 15. Representative (5) 17. Urge (5)
Spine (5)
Thrust (5)
Dizzy (5)
Believe (4) 25. Genuine (4)
Essential (9)
Bucket (4)
Also (3)
(4)
(5)
CROSSWORD
Colliery (4)
Frank (9)
Splendid display (9)
11. Expiring (5)
Recorded (5)
Mass meeting (5)
Small child (3)
Foot digit (3)
Torpid (5)
Piri-piri chicken
INGREDIENTS
METHOD
2 skinless chicken breasts (approximately 350g)
2tsp olive oil
1-2 red chillies, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2tsp paprika
1 lime, juice
1 lime, halved, to serve
Slice the chicken breasts into 3 pieces to create 1cm thick slices.
Place the slices in a food bag, add the olive oil, chillies, garlic, paprika and lime juice and mix well to coat the chicken. Set aside for 15 minutes or leave in the fridge overnight.
Heat a grill, barbecue or griddle pan and cook the chicken for 3 minutes, then turn over and cook for another 3.
Check the chicken is cooked through, ensuring there is no pink in the middle, then place on a plate. Grill the lime halves for a couple of minutes and
Summer vegetables with citrus dressing
INGREDIENTS
100g fine beans, halved
1 medium courgette, cut into chunks
150g frozen broad beans
100g frozen peas
3 spring onions, sliced
2tbsp coriander, chopped
1tbsp pumpkin seeds, toasted
1tsp olive oil
1 lime, grated zest and juice
METHOD
Place the fine beans in a pan of boiling water and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the courgette, broad beans and peas and continue to cook for 1 minute. Drain and refresh under cold water, then transfer to a serving dish.
In a small bowl, mix together the spring onions, coriander, pumpkin seeds, olive oil and lime zest and juice, then toss through the cooked vegetables before serving.
Sarah-Jayne Lee