Album Sleeve Challenge Day 7

This one gets us into the 80s to when I was a student, regularly buying albums (often second hand from a market stall). However, I bought this one brand new and it's by a band I have seen live three times - Big Country. I saw them first touring the debut album The Crossing, later supporting Queen at Knebworth, and finally acoustic in Morecambe a couple of years ago. They were a band that were immediately recognisable in their sound, and their songs had an edge to them - with plenty of social comment. It's probably one of the best protest albums of the 80s.

Steeltown made no. 1 in the UK, but wasn't a massive success commercially worldwide - partly because songs about 80s UK industrial decline and Thatcher's Britain didn't have great traction in the US market. However, it's a fine legacy for the late Stuart Adamson to have left us.

Jono Peatman CD release

On Friday we had a family get-together over in Lancaster for the launch of Jono's first CD. It contains two worship tracks that he has written and recorded with assistance from friends at St Thomas' and other churches.

The tracks are also on Spotify, Amazon Music and iTunes. They are starting to pick up interest on Spotify in a surprising variety of places around the world, so good work by the boy.

Here's one of them via Youtube.

A Post-Referendum hymn

Strictly speaking, not a full hymn - just a verse.

Whatever the result is tomorrow, there are going to be a lot of upset people around. At Church we recently sang the hymn "For the healing of the nations" and it struck me that an extra verse would be helpful.

Here's my attempt:

For the healing of our nation,
Lord, we pray with heart and mind.
Following such deep division,
May we peace and friendship find.
Help us banish bitter feuding,
Discovering the deeper ties that bind.

In the unlikely event of anyone wanting to use this, please feel free. Anyone else got a new song for Sunday?