War Cry 11 February

Musicians hope to hit the right note at the Brit awards

WAR CRY

11 February 2023

Still flying

Titanic film is re-released in cinemas

Singer’s care for children’s mental health

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.

OUR experiences as children can have a lasting influence on us as adults. Sometimes the effect can be positive. But there are other times when our early experiences have a negative effect even after childhood is left behind.

In this week’s War Cry, Lucinda Smith tells us how she left her home in the UK to start life as a Christian missionary in Pakistan. She thought she was set for a lifetime of exciting work. However, when she arrived in the country, the reality she faced was very different, leaving her feeling isolated and vulnerable.

After six years she returned home to the UK, believing she had failed during her time in Pakistan. However, through prayer and the counsel of other Christians, she started to realise that the difficulties she faced were a result of childhood experiences that had led to her living with a sense of abandonment. As she worked through those issues and rebuilt her relationship with God, Lucinda found a way to help a child from China who had been abandoned. Also in this week’s issue we speak to singer Lily-Jo. As a child she went through a family trauma for which she received counselling. Now the recording artist combines her love of music and her own training as a counsellor to help children with their wellbeing.

‘As adults, teachers, grandparents, aunties and uncles, we have the responsibility to make sure that our children’s mental health is good,’ she tells us. But she adds that there is something we must do for ourselves in order to carry out that responsibility.

Issue

Editor: Andrew Stone, Major

Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow

Production Editor: Ivan Radford

Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku

Staff Writer: Emily Bright

Staff Writer: Claire Brine

Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk

Graphic Designer: Rodney Kingston

Graphic Designer: Mark Knight

Email: warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk

The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory 101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN

Tel: 0845 634 0101

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

Founder: William Booth

General: Brian Peddle

Territorial Commander: Commissioner Anthony Cotterill

‘If we can all work on ourselves and aim to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be, we’ll generally be happier people and then be happier people to the children in our care.’

As Christians, both Lucinda and Lily-Jo have discovered that the best way to be the best version of themselves is through a relationship with God. He is able to love and help us all whatever our past may have been.

INFO INFO

Front-page picture: AJ PICS/ALAMY

Titanic film goes on

ACCOMPANIED by a haunting choral soundtrack, sepia film shows the mighty hull of RMS Titanic gliding past as passengers excitedly wave goodbye to their loved ones. In the opening moments of the 1997 film Titanic, which was re-released in cinemas yesterday (Friday 10 February), the passengers can hardly know what awaits them.

The film dramatises the story of how the ship, which was travelling from Southampton to New York City, sank in the North Atlantic Ocean hours after it slammed into an iceberg on 15 April 1912. More than 1,500 people perished in the icy waters, with only 705 surviving the wreck, because of a tragic shortage of lifeboats.

In director James Cameron’s Oscar-winning film, Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Jack, an adventurous but penniless young American, and Kate Winslet plays his compatriot Rose, who is searching for an escape from the stuffiness of upper-class life and an engagement to a man who makes her miserable.

When they meet, Rose and Jack’s passionate love affair spans the class divide and anything seems possible. But when Titanic begins to flood, they must fight to survive the shipwreck together.

Titanic has become a cinematic classic and one of the highest-grossing films of all time after it brought in more than $2.19 billion at the box office worldwide. But, while many people may be acquainted

with the fictional love story between Jack and Rose, there are some lesser-known details about what happened after the real Titanic sank.

The survivors were rescued by the Carpathia, and when it docked in New York City, The Salvation Army was ready to welcome its passengers. Evangeline Booth, the daughter of the church and charity’s founder William Booth, sent a cable, which was reprinted in the War Cry on 27 April 1912. ‘The scenes witnessed as the sufferers were brought ashore were too terrible to describe,’ she said. ‘Mind cannot imagine nor tongue express the deep pathos of the heart-rending meetings that took place between relatives and friends. Mothers, children, husbands and wives called aloud the names of their loved ones lost, and strong men were overcome by their emotions.

‘We have assisted a considerable number of refugees… Am working day and night for the relief and consolation of all. I have placed the accommodation of our halls and institutions at the disposal of the mayor for this purpose, and am personally superintending the [Salvation] Army relief efforts. I remained at the dock until one o’clock (midnight). We served hot coffee and sandwiches for the workers at the wharf.’

Ever since The Salvation Army began in 1865, it has worked across the globe to respond to emergencies, feed people who are hungry, provide accommodation

to those experiencing homelessness and help those who are disadvantaged to escape poverty.

Its motivation to do this comes from the Christian faith of its members. They believe in a compassionate God who calls them to meet needs and support the most vulnerable. He sees innate value and worth in every person he has created and wants them to live life to the full.

So in everything it does, The Salvation Army seeks to show God’s love to all humankind.

Evangeline Booth, who helped survivors

Blockbuster is re-released in cinemas

Feature by Emily Bright

Rose and Jack fall in love on the ‘Titanic’

We have assisted a considerable number

WAR talkTeam talk

j TEA M TALK

An AI Valentine? Enough said

Claire Brine gives her take on a story catching the attention of War Cry reporters

ROSES are red, violets are blue,/ This isn’t a very good poem for trying to woo. But, though my efforts at writing verse are drawing a blank, it seems I don’t need to worry about penning a card in time for Valentine’s Day next Tuesday (14 February). An article in The Times reassures me that AI is coming to the rescue.

According to technology business editor Katie Prescott, the online card retailer Moonpig is exploring the possibilities of integrating ChatGPT into its systems. This means that ‘customers will be able to ask the software to generate a personalised message or poem without having to scratch their heads for the right words’.

Putting the software to the test, The Times asked the Valentine bot to come up with a poem for a football-mad boyfriend. The poem kicked off with the words: ‘Soccer is love, and you’re the one/ Who makes my heart beat as fast as a goal is won.’ Maybe there’s someone who would love such a sentiment, but I have to admit that my own heart was not set a-fluttering.

Love is more than sentimental statements

Call me old-fashioned, but I won’t be using AI to help me write a Valentine’s card or any other heartfelt messages I am inclined to send. Yes, the technology might promise to save me a bit of time or come up with words and phrases that I wouldn’t have thought of, but what’s wrong with someone sending a less-than-perfect message of love, provided it is sincerely meant? Do our words really have to be eloquent for true love to be expressed and understood?

I don’t think so.

Though Valentine’s Day advertising may suggest otherwise, love is so much more than sentimental statements in cards, romance and sex. Love – between any two people – can be found in simple sentences such as ‘I’m sorry’, ‘I’m listening’ and ‘I’m thinking of you’. I see love when my four-year-old daughter comes in from the garden and, without a word, hands me the best pine cone she could find.

I also learn about love in the Bible, which describes it as kind, patient, supportive and loyal, never jealous, angry or selfish. It points out that the character of God encompasses everything that love is –and that the love he has for us never, ever fails. Need I say more?

Holidaymakers altar their plans

ABOUT 1,500 people camped in churches last year as part of a trend called ‘champing’, The Guardian reports.

Launched in 2015 by the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT), the initiative lets people enjoy overnight accommodation in 18 sites across England and Wales.

Fiona Silk, who oversees CCT’s champing business, said: ‘It does generate extra funds for upkeep and repair work and is a way of helping keep a church sustainable.

‘It’s also about providing a warm welcome to people who might not ordinarily go into a church – and supporting rural communities, as visitors will also eat out.’

Priscilla Moxey, from the parish council at participating church St Laurence in Hilmarton, Wiltshire, added: ‘The idea that people from far and, indeed, near can come and stay in our beautiful Grade I village church and have the key for one or several nights, enabling them to enjoy and absorb the history, beauty and architecture, is an amazing concept.

‘These wonderful buildings need to be used as much as possible.’

nTHE Salvation Army is setting up a community hub in Scarborough to support Ukrainian refugees.

The Sunflower Hub, based at the church and charity’s premises, aims ‘to provide a home from home’ for those in the community who have fled the Ukrainian conflict.

Open from noon till 3pm every Friday, the hub will offer practical support such as language lessons and training for employment. There are also plans for an onsite café, which will cook a selection of Ukrainian-inspired dishes.

More than 120 Ukrainian refugees have settled in Scarborough since the Russian invasion of their country last year.

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Fashion brand puts clothes bank in pole position

CLOTHING brand Hera, whose styles have attracted the attention of celebrities including Lewis Hamilton (right), Hailey Bieber and Brooklyn Beckham, is teaming up with the Salvation Army Trading Company (SATCoL) to create an online clothing bank.

Hera customers in the UK can add a Salvation Army donation bag to their order as they check out. They then fill the bag with unwanted clothes, shoes and accessories and deliver them to their local drop-off point. SATCoL will process the clothes, and any profits generated will go to the church and charity.

The clothing bank is part of SATCoL’s existing Take Back scheme, which enables UK customers to send their preloved clothes to charity by post to be recycled.

Flood support provided by Salvation Army

A SALVATION Army centre in Hastings provided drinks, snacks, meals and a warm place to rest for firefighters, council workers and utilities representatives who were co-ordinating their response to flooding in the town.

The Hastings Citadel centre also supported residents after basement flats nearby were flooded and a number of other homes lost power, helping one woman to heat up her food and giving her flasks of hot water.

TV star lives life on a prayer

AN actress who starred in Emmy-winning US TV drama This is Us has written a book about prayer.

Chrissy Metz, who played Kate Pearson in the show, wrote When I Talk to God, I Talk about You with songwriter Bradley Collins. The children’s picture book shows animals telling their little ones all the things they pray to God for.

Speaking to current affairs website Christian Headlines, the actress said: ‘For me, prayer was always really important. My grandmother instilled that at a very young age. And it really has thankfully stuck with me throughout my whole life.’

Chrissy said that she wants the book to help children understand that prayer is like talking to a friend.

‘That’s really what prayer is, is a conversation with God,’ she said. ‘I do it all the time. I mean, morning, noon, night and in between. And when you sort of demystify what it is, you really start to create an actual relationship with God.’

She also hopes it will de-stigmatise prayer for parents who view it as a ‘massive concept’.

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Adopting a child brings a sense of belonging

Interview by Claire Brine

WHEN nurse Lucinda Smith left her home in the UK to work in a Christian missionary hospital in Pakistan, she expected to stay in the country for the rest of her life. Inspired by her faith in God, the young nurse wanted to provide medical care to people in need, while sharing the good news about Jesus. But less than a year into her new role, Lucinda was hit by depression. She felt God had left her. And when she made the difficult decision to return home, feelings of failure proved overwhelming.

‘I had taken it for granted that being a Christian missionary would be my life’s work,’ says Lucinda, who now runs a church in Preston along with her husband, Steve. ‘I thought I’d end my days in whichever country I went to. But when Steve and I got to Pakistan, life wasn’t how I imagined it would be.

‘Before I became a missionary, I suppose my thoughts had been along the lines of: “Right, God, I’m doing all this for you and giving up my home, so in return we will have this amazing spiritual relationship.” On an unconscious level, that was the deal I made with him. But the reality was that I was at home a lot with our children, so

my nursing was put on hold. And while Steve, who was a surgeon, became quite fluent in Urdu, I couldn’t communicate very well, which meant I wasn’t confident. I began comparing myself with other missionaries, and my self-esteem dropped. I felt isolated and vulnerable. Looking back, I was very hard on myself.

‘In all the difficulties that I was facing, I felt that God didn’t show up for me in the way I expected him to. Every time I tried praying and reading my Bible, it was as though I was hitting a brick wall. Eventually, I became so low that I felt I couldn’t do anything any more. I ended up on anti depressants and continued to take them for the next 10 years.’

In 1997, after spending six years as missionaries in Pakistan, Lucinda and Steve and their three children returned home to the UK. Steve started work as a GP, while Lucinda balanced motherhood with a part-time role as a nurse in a hospice.

‘I loved my new job, but I couldn’t connect my life with all its uncertainty and depression with the hope, love and peace

Former Christian missionary LUCINDA SMITH opens up about the feelings of abandonment that led to her experiencing depression and how she found hope in adoption

Lucinda Smith

I saw in the Gospels,’ she says. ‘Although I never stopped going to church, I had a deep sense of disconnection from God. I felt that I’d let him down because of what happened in Pakistan –and I thought that he’d let me down as well.’

Desperate to rebuild her relationship with God, Lucinda turned to some trusted Christians who ran a prayer ministry, and she asked them to pray with her. Together, they asked God for help.

‘My heart was broken,’ Lucinda says. ‘It was as though there was a deep wound in my life which needed healing. And that wound – which God revealed to me – was abandonment. It went back to when I was a child. My parents lived in Mexico and so, at the age of 11, I had flown to boarding school in England. Although I was happy at my school, the notion of spiritual abandonment had somehow become lodged in my brain. It took a long time for me to resolve it.’

Through prayer, Bible reading and the counsel of other Christians, Lucinda was able to address the pain of her abandonment and, slowly, find peace once more in her relationship with God.

‘The issue wasn’t that I went to boarding school – the issue was the lie I had picked up along the way that I had been abandoned,’ she explains. ‘And lies like that can easily take hold when we believe them. But through prayer, I came to understand that I didn’t need to believe that lie any more. I wasn’t abandoned. God says he will never leave us. I decided to stand on the truth that God was always with me, and since then I have found it possible to live a life of peace, joy and love, even amidst the chaos of the world.’

As the years passed and Lucinda became stronger in her faith, a conversation with some missionary friends back in Pakistan began to play on her mind. The friends had revealed that

they were adopting a child from China, and Lucinda couldn’t get the thought out of her head that she and Steve should do the same.

‘It seemed absurd, because we weren’t looking to extend our family, but the thought of adoption just wouldn’t go away,’ she says. ‘So Steve and I talked about it and decided to push the door, trusting that God would close it if it wasn’t right.

‘During the adoption process, which took three years, I had a dream in which God told me that we would collect our child on 29 November. It was so clear to me. But the months passed by and nothing happened, so I forgot all about it.

‘Then, in the September of the third year, we received a letter in the post and a small photograph of a little girl, saying that we had finally been matched with a child in China. We were told to go to China and collect Phoebe

It was as though there was a deep wound in my life

Lucinda and Steve in China with Phoebe

on 29 November 2004. Suddenly, I remembered my dream.’

In a huge room, surrounded by other adoptive families, Lucinda and Steve were handed their new daughter. Phoebe was just 21 months old.

‘We knew nothing about her, other than that she had been abandoned,’ says Lucinda. ‘For her first three days with us, she was very distressed. She clung on to Steve. But eventually she came to me, and by the time we were ready to fly home a week later, she didn’t want to let either of us out of her sight.’

Lucinda, Steve and their three children were overjoyed to welcome Phoebe into their family. From time to time, as she grew up, she asked questions about her heritage and birth parents, and Lucinda did her best to answer them.

‘Right from the start, we told Phoebe that we didn’t know anything about her birth parents but would always support her if she wanted to search for them,’ she says. ‘I remember how on one occasion when she was quite young and feeling upset, we prayed for her birth mum and dad, asking God to let

them know that she was safe and loved. It was a prayer that we prayed a lot together, over the years.’

Adopting a child, Lucinda says, has been one of the greatest joys of her life.

‘Although we didn’t have Phoebe from birth, I loved her instantly. The whole family loved her as much as we loved each other. I felt an enormous sense of needing to protect her and to give her a sense of belonging.

‘And I believe that’s how God the Father feels about us. He’s a Father who adores us, as his children, and roots for us. He won’t ever abandon us.’

Phoebe today, aged 20

We prayed for her birth mum and dad

Lucinda’s four children a year after Phoebe’s adoption

Singer has caring in mind

To mark Children’s Mental Health Week, which began on Monday (6 February), pop artist and counsellor LILY-JO, who helps children to look af ter their mental health through her music, talks about the emotional challenges facing young people and the book she has written to equip carers for conversation

Interview by Sarah Olowofoyeku

LILY-JO goes from stages to school classrooms, using her music and offering practical resources to help a generation improve their wellbeing. The Manchesterbased pop artist and counsellor grew up surrounded by music, having had parents and grandparents who were all in bands. She studied performing arts at college, and later got a job in a modelling agency. After the birth of her first child she wanted a job with more stability, so she retrained as a counsellor. But later she felt she needed to write songs again, and she was given the opportunity to perform them when she was signed to a label.

‘At my first gig, back in 2016, I talked from the stage about being a counsellor and sang my songs,’ she says. ‘Afterwards I had a queue of people at the merchandise table sharing their stories of mental ill health and sayings that what I had said on stage really helped them. I wondered if there was a way I could fuse my music with my counselling experience, and in that moment the Lily-Jo Project was born.’

Lily-Jo wanted to use her name so that people could see her performing live and then be connected back to her website of mental health resources. For the past seven years the website has been offering tools, tips, podcasts and blogs to help people overcome

Turn to page 10 f

Lily-Jo

From page 9

their problems.

Her decision to become a counsellor came about as a result of her own experience of mental ill health.

‘After a family trauma, I felt very low,’ she says. ‘My mum suggested I have some counselling, and it helped me. I realised it was something I could be helping others with.’

Now she has written a book, Talking to Children about Mental Health, which she began to work on after receiving a lot of questions from parents about how they should go about doing it.

‘I had some time over lockdown,’ she says, ‘and I felt like it would be a powerful way of me making a difference in this world. Knowing that children and young people are struggling motivated me to write and get the tools into the hands of the people that need them the most. Our teachers might not be equipped to deal with the mental health struggles of this next generation, but they’re expected to and that feels unfair. So I feel us experts need to step up and provide as many

resources as we can for teachers, parents and anyone that is working with children and young people.’

The book features uplifting and reflective lyrics from songs that Lily-Jo has written and its chapters address some of the issues that affect young people today, including climate anxiety, global grief, post-pandemic stress and life lived online.

We need to create boundaries for our children

Lily-Jo says: ‘Constantly being informed that the world will end soon can have a negative impact on children’s wellbeing. Also, our children now can hear about things happening across the world before we know about them. They are grieving and witnessing things online that we need to be aware of, and we need to be able to support them as they grieve.’

To help children navigate online digital spaces, Lily-Jo suggests that adults should have open conversations with them about the internet and set boundaries. She says that when her son got his first phone, she scrolled through a social media feed with him to talk about advertising on the internet.

‘We came across a body spray advert, and I asked him what he thought the advertiser was trying to say to him. And he said: “That if I spray this spray, I will be more attractive.” Helping children to decipher what they are being sold is key.

‘I also think we need to create boundaries for our children’s digital and online presence, which we can do through having phone-free zones in the home. In our home, we have no phones at the dinner table.’

One of the most important things to remember about helping children with their mental health, she says, is that people need to be present and available for them.

This week is Children’s Mental Health Week, which Lily-Jo believes is important because it highlights to adults that children need support.

‘When we shine a spotlight on that, we can help the next generation,’ she says. ‘As adults, teachers, grandparents, aunties and uncles, we have the responsibility to make sure that our children’s mental health is good. This week encourages us to spot the warning signs and act upon them. Fifty per cent of mental health problems are developed by the age of 14,

Lily-Jo has performed on stages across the world

so if we understand that, we can provide preventative tools to nip them in the bud.’

Lily-Jo also wants people to be aware that everyone needs to know how to look after their mental wellbeing. She says that older generations sometimes struggle with

such ideas because talking about mental health is a new concept.

‘Mental health was like an illness, so older generations were not given the vocabulary or the knowledge about how the brain works, which we have now. They can be encouraged that they are a hugely resilient generation who have pulled up their socks and gotten on with it, but what we’re saying now is that they can talk about things and feel better, get help and take appropriate medication if needed.

‘I see patients in their early 50s who are dealing with stuff from childhood that they just suppressed, but it has come out in other ways – for example, migraines, backache or irritability.’

Lily-Jo says that she has been helped in her life by her Christian faith.

‘Faith keeps me grounded,’ she says. ‘It gives me an anchor, which allows me to work out my God-given purpose.’

The Bible includes teaching that encourages people to be childlike, and Lily-Jo thinks adults can learn from the younger generation.

‘Children are delightful,’ she says. ‘They have no preconceived ideas. They are blank slates who can cause so much joy. I believe children are kind and generous. They can see the joy and beauty in things that, as adults, we can miss. Looking as children, we get to look at things through God’s eyes. If you take a toddler out for a walk, they say: “Wow, there’s a squirrel and there’s a dog and look at that lovely blue sky.” We can learn from children to take the pressure off. To see things from their perspective is to see them in their purest form.’

Despite the many challenges facing younger and older people

in the world today, Lily-Jo is hopeful that positive change can come about.

‘If we can all work on ourselves and aim to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be, we’ll generally be happier people and then be happier people to the children in our care.’

l Talking to Children about Mental Health is published by SPCK

The Lily-Jo Project hosts workshops and assemblies in schools on the subject of mental health

We can help the next generation

YOUR prayers are requested for Allen, that he will receive strength and peace.

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, 101 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BN. 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

Walking with Jesus

WHEN we start to relate to Christ not just as a historical figure or a religious idea but as our personal reality, we have become a new creation. It says in the Bible that the old has gone and the new has come (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). This raises the question, though, what has happened to our past? Does our history, family, upbringing, culture and past trauma just disappear?

Therapist and author Andre Ramall writes: For many years, I thought the answer to this question was yes. I was taught that all my old ways of thinking, all my bad habits, my fears and my worries were now a thing of the past. All I needed was Christ. Like a pantomime joke, ‘Where’s my past?’ ‘Behind you!’

The only problem was that I was still massively influenced by my upbringing and past trauma. No amount of praying, reading the Bible and trying harder made any difference to my anxieties and low self-esteem. So my past was still very much with me.

But the Bible says my life is hidden in Christ. How do we make sense of this?

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

I now believe that this verse is not asking us to deny our past or pretend it never happened. This kind of denial can lead to a lot of psychological problems. If bad stuff has happened, that has to be acknowledged. The effects may still be playing out. For instance, the self I developed in reaction to my history, the defences and self-sufficient ways of coping and defending myself from further hurt, needed to be surrendered.

We are not equipped to run our lives on our own, and walking with Jesus means surrendering ourselves to Christ. This doesn’t eradicate our identity, as some seem to teach. It means that Christ now shines through the cracks in our history and redeems all the pain and trauma in our unique and Christ-shaped selves.

Being in Christ enables us to relate to our past with compassion, to grieve what needs to be grieved, to forgive what needs to be forgiven, to make peace with our own history.

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3 New International Version).

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

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Or email your details and request to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk

When we first explore Christianity, we may have lots of questions. In this series, some of the basic principles of the faith are explained

Bad stuff has to be acknowledged

Best of

British

Ceremony rewards musical expressions

RECORDING artists will be hoping that they’re on track for success at the Brit awards ceremony today (Saturday 11 February), which is scheduled to be broadcast on ITV1.

Held at the O2 arena in London and hosted by comedian Mo Gilligan, tonight’s live show will feature performances from UK and international artists, including Lizzo, David Guetta and Becky Hill.

QUICK QUIZ

1 2 3 4 5 6

Who won the women’s singles title at last month’s Australian Open tennis championship?

The part of the arm near the ulnar nerve is informally known by what name?

In the TV comedy Only Fools and Horses, what make of vehicle did Del Boy and Rodney drive?

Which record label derived its name from the nickname for Detroit?

Which river flows through the Grand Canyon?

What is the name of the author and illustrator of the book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse?

The first Brit awards ceremony – known as the British Record Industry Britannia Centenary Awards – took place in 1977 at Wembley Conference Centre. The event was part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee celebrations and marked a century since Thomas Edison invented the phonograph. Winners that retrospective night included Sir Cliff Richard, Dame Shirley Bassey and the Beatles.

A second ceremony was held in 1982, after which it became an annual event, with the awards changing their name to the Brits in 1989. Nominees in this year’s 43rd ceremony include the UK’s Eurovision star Sam Ryder, Dua Lipa and Stormzy, who has been nominated in the album of the year, best hip-hop/grime/ rap act and artist of the year categories.

In interviews leading up to the release of his No 1 album This Is What I Mean, the rapper was vocal about his connection to faith when creating it. He said that during the recording ‘God was in the room’. In one of the tracks, ‘Holy Spirit’, he sings: ‘Hold me with your tightest embrace, oh Lord, you/ You will never lead me astray.’

Stormzy is not unique in singing such things. Music has been an expression of

Stormzy, whose album references his faith, is up for three awards

The rapper was vocal about faith

1. Aryna Sabalenka. 2. The funny bone.

3. A Reliant. 4. Motown (from ‘Motor Town’).

5. The Colorado. 6. Charlie Mackesy.

Feature by Sarah Olowofoyeku

Becky Hill is among the acts performing at the Brits

SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9

7. Hilarity (9)

1. Melt (4)

2. Encounter (4)

21. Leading (5)

22. Bisect (5) 23. Lament (4) 24. Way out (4)

Look up, down, forwards, backwards and diagonally on the grid to find these romantic films

AMELIE AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER BRIEF ENCOUNTER CASABLANCA

DR

GONE WITH THE WIND THE ENGLISH PATIENT THE WAY WE WERE

Roast cod with tomatoes

Jam bread and butter pudding

INGREDIENTS

SERVES 2

EQUIPMENT

Scales

Measuring jug

Knife

Ovenproof dish

Whisk

INGREDIENTS

4 slices bread

50g butter

Apricot jam

50g sultanas

2 eggs

50g sugar, plus extra, for sprinkling

300ml milk

Cinnamon, for sprinkling

METHOD

Spread butter and jam on the bread and cut into neat squares. Lay some of the squares to cover the bottom of the dish, top with some sultanas, then continue to layer the remaining bread squares and sultanas, finishing with the bread.

To make custard, beat the eggs with the sugar in a jug, then warm the milk, pour it in and whisk.

Pour the custard over the bread, then allow it to stand for at least 30 minutes to let it soak in.

Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas Mark 2.

Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over the pudding and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until just firm.

Recipe provided by the Victory Programme

Ed Forster

An ounce of encouragement is worth a pound of explanation