Sorted Magazine

Category: Featured

  • Comment: Half of over-60s feel excluded from their local communities

    New research from leading residential park bungalow provider, Regency Living, reveals that over half of over-60s feel excluded from their local communities, whilst 70% struggle with loneliness at some point or another.

    Regency Living has surveyed 1,028 UK over-60s to ask questions around loneliness, isolation, and community to understand what role these things play in our lives as we get older. The survey reveals that whilst 30% of over-60s live alone, as many as 70% of those surveyed struggle with loneliness at times.

    Whilst 52% are in daily contact with loved ones, 48% stated that they only have contact with friends and family on a weekly basis or longer. 37% of those surveyed also stated that they have no contact with their neighbours beyond greeting them in passing. As many as 51% went on to say that they don’t feel included within their wider community.

    One of the key reasons for this lack of community amongst the over-60s is seemingly the lack of opportunities available to them, with 37% stating that there were no chances to get involved in the community, whether it be community groups, days out or clubs to attend.

    All in all, the survey reveals that loneliness plays a significant part in the lives of many over-60s, and 21% even go so far as to say that loneliness is negatively impacting their quality of life.

    A Regency Living spokesperson explained: “Loneliness can have a negative impact on both mental and physical health and it’s not just those living alone who can struggle, as often age or the declining health of a partner can result in a restricted ability to get out and about, meet with friends or family and get involved in the community.

    While many downsizers are initially drawn to the park home lifestyle due to the more affordable price and the opportunity to release equity in the existing home, it’s the ready made community aspect and its accessibility that soon becomes the best thing about park home living.

    Park home sites have an incredibly strong sense of community and togetherness, bringing support, companionship and security, all of which are extremely important aspects for those in later life. As a result, park home owners are able to enjoy a wonderful quality of life whether it be alone or with their partner and are never short of things to do, or people to do them with.”

    Survey results

    Main Photo Credit: J D Mason via Unsplash

  • Review: Unsung Hero

    Unsung heroes is a fascinating, moving, and gripping true story about faith, family and music. Out in cinemas on June 14th this new film from Kingdom Story Studios is a terrific film about family, faith, and releasing your full potential. It certainly deserves to be a hit and I, for one, hope it will be.

    https://www.lionsgate.com/videos/unsung-hero-2024-official-trailer-joel-smallbone-daisy-betts-kirrilee-berger-jonathan-jackson

    The second major faith film this year, following Ordinary Angels, this is the true story of David and Helen Smallbone. When David’s music company in Australia collapses, he uproots the family in Nashville and sets out to start life all over again. However, it simply isn’t that easy, and all sorts of factors conspire to make like difficult for them.

    Eventually, the couple begin to recognize the talent that exists within their own family. Their children have talent. The children’s musical career starts with their daughter Rebbeca St James, who was the first in the family to get a recording contract. Luke and Joel went on to form For King and Country and became one of the most successful acts in contemporary Christian music. Between them they have won five Grammys.

    The film has a terrific ensemble cast and the music, as you would expect, is wonderful and worth the price of the admission alone. A film for all ages that praises the virtues of persistence and not giving up. Seek it out and enjoy.

    Main Photo Credit: Courtesy of Kingdom Story Studios

  • Opinion: Girls’ Brigade support young leaders

    Digital Editor’s Note: As a record number of women have been voted into the House of Commons Sorted Magazine welcomes two Guest Writers – Girls’ Brigade CEO Judith Davey-Cole, and Margaret Casely-Hayford, Patron. In this article they share their opinions and ask how can we ensure gender equality remains a priority.

    A record number of female MPs have been elected in the UK General Election, with a record number of 242 female MPs being voted into the House of Commons, surpassing the previous record of 220 in 2019. Years of well-evidenced research establish the value of women’s leadership and the benefits of gender diverse boards and senior leadership. We know it’s important to ensure gender equality in our governments.

    However, the path to leadership for women is still fraught with challenges that require our collective effort to overcome. We must continue to raise women up, not only by celebrating their successes but by actively equipping and encouraging them on the journey to get there.

    We represent the Girls’ Brigade England & Wales, a fellowship which creates opportunity for networks of support to be built, which can be present and helpful for young leaders. Girls’ Brigade enables and equips girls to be the leaders of the future, in all spheres of life. Internationally, we have special consultative status at the UN Commission for Status of Women in recognition of the life-changing work we do to build the skills, confidence and agency of girls and young women.

    The work we do is transformational in building girls’ confidence and resilience and enables them to live life to the full. It equips them as leaders of the future in whatever they do. Dawn Butler MP explained: “I was in Girls’ Brigade when I was a young girl and my experience was very life-affirming. I felt safe and like I could grow and develop. Today, it’s still relevant. It’s a safe place where girls and women can get together to share experiences and build friendships and that is a valuable component of a young person’s growth. As an African-Caribbean woman and leader I believe it is important for me to use my experiences to smooth the road for those coming after me. I firmly believe that when girls and women are on the ladder of success, we should lay the foundations for an escalator, making the journey of women coming behind us faster, smoother and easier.”

    A young leaders programme helps people prioritise building a culture of trust and integrity, because working in an environment of trust and integrity means that people can do their best work and success follows.

    But once a woman is in a leadership position, more obstacles follow. The various entrenched reasons for women’s lower level of political participation are also well researched and well known. They range from deeply ingrained culture and customs, lack of self-confidence, economic factors (like the gender pay gap) to these pressing responsibilities for caring for children and other family members. Organisations lose their investment in senior staff and leaders if they leave to take on the demands of caring responsibilities. There has undoubtedly been progress in recent years, but we’re not where we need to be in terms of a just and fair society.

    As we celebrate women in leadership, let’s use this as a chance to introduce essential policy changes on caring responsibilities that so often hamper at critical stages in people’s careers, especially women.

    The different perspectives that women bring on relationships and decision making tend to result in more collaborative workplaces with a more positive inclusive culture is well documented. And crucially gender balanced teams tend to be more innovative and creative.

    Although men increasingly share in childcare and care for the sick or elderly, it’s still the case that the vast majority of this unpaid-for benefit to society is fulfilled by women. Many of our volunteers are carers, and some are sandwich carers where they’re caring for an older relative while at the same time bringing up their children. Many of our girls are carers too.

    We believe more focus is needed to create better infrastructural support to enable and support women in leadership. And this includes better workplace information and networks set up for those with caring responsibilities to prevent feelings of isolation. We also know that professional carers have never been seen as such and have therefore been undervalued for too long. We suggest that Government, Third and private sectors could usefully collaborate on the professionalisation of the caring industry, setting up clearer career structures and support for care workers, for example through establishment of a code of conduct, with principles, underpinning guidance on behaviours, expectations and accountability so that there is greater transparency about what is demanded of them.

    If we can offer young girls and women the opportunity to shape their own journeys in leadership and build the policy infrastructure and support that women in leadership need, then we can truly bring equal representation of women’s views and priorities to our democracy.

    Find out more about the work of Girls’ Brigade at www.girlsbrigadeministries.org.uk 

    Main Photo Credit: CoWomen via Unsplash

  • Faith: “I’m a sheep in wolves clothing”

    We set off to find a remote cricket club nestled in the wilds of Lancashire to hear Kevin Cockburn share his faith story. Around 60 people had gathered for the evening event. Kevin filled a table with his own supporters, his wife, family and friends. I’d never heard of Kevin before, so I had no idea who he was or what to expect.

    Kevin is a high energy detail person. He spoke for an hour or so without any notes, relaying the story of his life in chronological order, I’m sure he could have talked for longer. He spoke with considerable fervour and enthusiasm; unpacking the harrowing details of his young life growing up in a powerful, controlling and cruel religious cult. He shared some of their shocking practices, such as banishing and essentially kidnapping members. The cult wrought years of emotional trauma and damage throughout his childhood leaving his head “messed up”.

    During his teenage years, desperate for connections and love, Kevin fell into a tailspin of taking and supplying drugs which pulled him deeper and deeper into a life of drug dealing and serious crime. Many years later, Kevin still looks the part. Though he presents with that familiar stereotypical “hard man” image it was interesting to note just how many times throughout the evening he firmly declared: “I’m not a fighter.” At heart Kevin was, and is, a man of peace. As a young man, trapped in a world of criminals, he never wanted to hurt anyone, and feared being hurt himself.

    During his talk he referenced his love for his parents, his nan, his (now) wife and family. He openly admitted to feeling intense fear and loneliness during his years of crime, conviction and subsequent imprisonment. There seemed no ounce of malice in him. He wasn’t an angry young man, hateful of everything, but actually very caring, simply craving normal levels of love and belonging, and all of the things which growing up in a cult had taken from him.

    He shared his story, right up to the present day. Though Kevin is not a polished speaker, the remarkable story comes bursting out of him with such force, it almost seems to have a life of its own. His story carries its own dynamic energy, he shared it authentically and it is indeed gripping real life stuff. I think it’s one of the most dramatic and scary stories I’ve ever heard. I was on the edge of my seat more than once.

    He “plugged” his ten pound autobiography The Tattooed Saint, then quickly back tracked and offered it for free. Following his talk Kevin prayed for people, first as a group, then individually. When the room began to empty and I thought his work was done, I approached him and introduced myself as a journalist with Sorted Magazine. We chatted about exchanging details and while I was fumbling about for a pen in my bag he said: “Can you just hang on a minute?” and shot off to pray with a group of men across the very far side of the room. I rested against a warm radiator and observed him, from a distance, for about twenty minutes. This is possibly the first time I’ve encountered an author who prioritised praying for people over publicity. He was unaware that I was watching, so this wasn’t a performance. I’m convinced that Kevin Cockburn is absolutely the real deal; humble, genuine, authentic; a man whose life has been completely transformed by the hand of God. In Kevin’s own words: “I am a sheep in wolves clothing.”

    Kevin’s book is available here

    Main Photo Credit: Val Fraser

  • Comment: 83% of all UK 2023 drownings were male

    I’m never more conflicted than when I’m at the coast. Sitting in a remote pebbled gully, I watched the swell of turquoise water rise and fall, was lulled by the gentle rhythmic sound of the waves, ate my picnic lunch with good company and felt so safe and relaxed. Until an orange jelly fish the size of dustbin lid floated towards me like an alien creature and totally freaked me out! A sense of evil forboding washed over me, there were hidden dangers here.

    The beauty of the British Coast often belies its treachery. A week of walking coastal paths encompassed extreme beauty and extreme treachery. The scenery was so dramatic yet potential danger lurked at every turn. We encountered other, mostly sensible, walkers. But we also witnessed, what I will call “lads”, veering away from the marked path towards the steep cliff edge.

    Because of these recent first hand encounters I welcome HM Coastguard’s latest Coast Clever summer safety campaign to remind people how to stay safe and avoid the dangers and hazards at the coast. It includes a new film with singer and comedian Arthur Hill who finds out that it’s not funny to get cut off by the tide or caught out on cliffs.

    The campaign addresses four common risks at the coast:

    Tidal cut off; being surrounded by the sea when the tide comes in

    Offshore winds; winds that blow you from the land out to sea

    Stuck in mud; being trapped in mud or soft sand

    Cliff slips and falls

    The short Coast Clever film follows comedian Arthur as he takes up an invitation from HM Coastguard to discover for himself how to stay safe on the coast. He meets a coastguard rescue officer on a small pebbly beach at the base of a cliff. The scenario was that the tide was coming in and if he were cut off, he would need to be rescued. He bravely accepted the challenge to take part in his simulated rescue and scaled nearly 100 metres (over 300ft) of cliff in the capable hands of one of HM Coastguard’s highly trained specialist rope rescue teams.

    HM Coastguard responded to over 2,000 call outs to incidents of people getting cut off by the tide in the last three years†. New data from the annual UK-wide research commissioned by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, conducted by Assenti Research has shown:

    Only 36% of people perceive getting cut off by tide coming in as one of the biggest risks at the coast.

    74% of people admit they think they should check tide times when visiting the coast, but only 35% claimed they actually did on their last visit.

    Across the UK in 2023, males accounted for 83% of all drownings*. Due to this alarming fatality rate in men, this year’s Coast Clever campaign is designed to appeal to ‘lads and dads’ who may be more at risk. Survey data** also reveals younger men are less likely to call 999 for help in an emergency. 32% of males aged 16-35 would call 999 if they saw someone struggling in the water compared to 45% of males aged 36-plus.

    HM Coastguard’s top tips to stay safe and have an enjoyable day at the coast

    Check the weather forecast and tide times before you set off

    Cliffs can be unstable, so stay clear of cliff edges and bases

    Watch out for mud and if you do get stuck, lean back to spread your weight

    Avoid water sports in an offshore wind, when the wind blows from the land out to sea

    Tell someone where you are going and when you’ll be back

    Take a fully charged mobile phone and consider taking a PLB (personal locator beacon) which alerts the emergency services from the remotest of locations

    In a coastal emergency, call 999 and ask for the Coastguard

    Commenting on the Coast Clever campaign Claire Hughes, Director of His Majesty’s Coastguard said: “We want everyone to enjoy our fantastic coastline and beaches this summer. The happiest of memories are always made when you and your loved ones stay safe. Every summer, sadly some people don’t take home happy memories. Our latest Coast Clever safety campaign is a timely reminder to encourage people to take some simple safety precautions and of course if anyone is in difficulty to call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.”

    Main Photo Credit: Val Fraser

  • Faith: Number-cruncher crunching miles to raise funds

    A Statistician who spends her days crunching numbers at a desk is set to crunch a different sort of number. Statistician, Fiona Tweedie, has set herself the challenge of running 500km in a bid to raise funds for Compassion UK. Fiona said: “I was always the person picked last for school teams at gym, and started running just a few years ago. I’m not at all fast, but I like running in the hills, slowly, a long way. It’s some time to be with God, and away from other distractions. I get to see beautiful views in the Pentland Hills near my home and listen to the birds and marvel at God’s creation.”

    Fiona has already covered over 327km since the start of May and is helping to raise money for a project building a youth resource centre in Togo’s capital, Lomé. Togo is 500km long from north to south, inspiring Fiona’s chosen distance. She hopes to raise £1000.

    Photo Credit: Fiona Tweedie (pictured above)

    Since the early 2000’s Fiona and her family have sponsored around 30 children through Compassion UK, in countries all across Asia, South America and Africa. She said: “We’ve sponsored over 30 children now (I think!) and there’s been a wonderful variety. I used to be a university lecturer, and I know the importance of education in young people’s lives. But so many are unable to continue due to a lack of resources or access to the resources they need. I know that young women and girls are particularly disadvantaged and I wanted to do something to help them.”

    On the 21st July, Fiona will embark on her longest distance in one go yet – St Cuthbert’s Way Ultra, around 66 miles/100km.

    Follow Fiona’s progress and donate to her cause here.

    Main Photo Credit: George Clerk via Getty images.

  • Faith: Why do we find it hard to ask for help?

    Digital Editor’s Note: I’m delighted to welcome Matt Summerfield as our Guest Writer. Matt is the Senior Leader of Zeo Church which he leads alongside a wider love for cheering on leaders through training, coaching, and running retreats. Recently he was in a field near Swindon for an annual men’s festival called The Gathering run by Christian Vision for Men (CVM) where he was reminded afresh of his struggle to ask for help.

    Photo courtesy of Matt Summerfield.

    Matt (pictured above) writes: Why do we find it so hard to ask for help? Or is it just me? Do you find it easy to reach out and admit you can’t do something without the assistance of another?

    Recently I was in a field near Swindon for a men’s festival called The Gathering with Christian Vision for Men (CVM) where I was reminded afresh of my struggle to ask for help. I arrived on-site on a warm, but windy, Friday afternoon and my first task was to put up the tent I’d borrowed. Surely I could do this by myself!

    My first challenge was making sure I’d got the right poles in the right places and, frustratingly, my natural aptitude for starting wrong didn’t disappoint. I wondered what people were thinking as they walked past watching me contend with a tent that was fast becoming a kite as the wind blew strong. And still, I didn’t ask for help!

    Then up walked James who asked: “Can I give you a hand Matt?” I can’t tell you how much I wanted to reply “No, I’m fine”. But my limited inner wisdom whispered I was far from fine, as the tent was starting to wrap around me like an Anaconda (curse that wind!). Instead, I responded, “If you’ve got time that would b great”. (note: there’s a clue here about my reluctance to ask for help. I’ll come back to that in a moment)

    Photo courtesy of Matt Summerfield.

    And before you knew it, James and I had the tent structurally robust and I was feeling very grateful. You’d think I’d learnt my lesson. But clearly not!

    My next task was to blow up the large inflatable mattress I’d borrowed from my son and daughter-in-law. There was no power near the tent so I headed over to the team area, plugged it in, and within moments it was inflated and ready to go. But now it was large and difficult to hold. How was I going to navigate it back to the tent, without both mattress and myself being blown over by the wind?

    There were people in the team area. People who would’ve helped me if I’d asked them. But no. They looked busy. So I started to pull the mattress across the floor. “Can I give you a hand Matt?” came an offer. “No, it’s fine I should be OK.” I replied this time, desperately trying to manoeuvre the large inflated bed around an obstacle-course of chairs. “It’s OK, I’ll help you, it will be easier with two people.” came the response. Sometimes I need people who won’t take my “no” for an answer. Within moments, the bed was in, and all was right with the world!

    Why do we find it so hard to ask for help? I do know the answer – to a degree. It isn’t really pride, although I’m sure there’s a spoonful of that somewhere. No, my real problem is that I don’t want to inconvenience people. I don’t want to be “any trouble”. I love to give and serve, but I’m just not very good at receiving.

    I am getting better at it, mind you. But yesterday’s story reminds me that I still have a way to go. I wish I could pinpoint a moment in my past that has shaped this reluctance to ask for help. But I can’t. Perhaps there’s an underlying fear that asking for help and being refused would be even worse.

    Then I’d feel rejected (which has often been my secret nemesis). Whatever is going on in the complexity of my heart and mind, I know – because I teach and preach it – that we do need each other. We need God and we need each other. The following words from Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 are often applied to marriages at weddings BUT they’re truths for all of our relationships.

    Two are better than one, becase they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no-one to help him up! Also if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

    So what is it for you? What keeps you from asking for help? Perhaps we can all decide to be a little bit more brave, or humble, or vulnerable, and enjoy the blessing of receiving. Cheering and praying for you!

    Main Photo Credit: Courtesy of Bob Fraser at The Gathering 2024.

  • Faith: Church Army offers support to sex workers

    The Ruby Project is an initiative from Church Army with the aim of showing God’s relentless love to those affected by the sex industry. The Ruby Project offers practical and spiritual support to women affected by the sex industry through street outreach, a drop-in centre, food, clothing, and washing facilities, and assistance in helping women access healthcare and other professional services. It is estimated that 105,000 people are involved in sex work in the UK. Many of these are women facing financial struggles, insecure housing, domestic violence, and sexual abuse.

    Why and how do women get drawn into the sex industry? The sex industry can often be sold as ‘quick money’ and in times of financial crisis, when people are desperate, it can look like a way out. Many women have varying reasons for what led them into the industry but mostly, the women the Ruby Project supports say they didn’t feel they ever had a choice.

    A participant shared her story: “I was sexually abused from a very young age, and at 15 this led me into the sex industry. I grew up in care, I’ve got no family, it’s just me. Other girls told me about Church Army’s The Ruby Project. Coming to the drop in, being helped with clothes, having my birthday celebrated – it helped open my heart to getting clean and not working on the streets anymore.

    People don’t understand, they think it’s easy for us to do, but it’s not.  Most of the women that do this, have no-one. Please don’t assume the worst of us. We are alone, and we feel we have no other options.”

    Harrowing experiences such as this one, are the reason why Church Army are calling on the next government to make a commitment to tackling poverty with the creation of a Minister for Social Justice. Church Army have submitted a petition to the main party leaders in preparation for the election.

    Main Photo Credit: Rosie Sun via Unsplash

  • Faith: Running the race of your life

    J.John’s Olympic initiative has gained momentum and over 100,000 copies of his booklet about the life and faith of Eric Liddell have been distributed throughout the UK and around the world.

    Eric Liddell was a Scottish runner whose story, famously retold in the classic movie Chariots of Fire, focuses on his uncompromising desire to honour God. Liddell believed that his response to what God had done for him included keeping Sunday free from sport, so when he heard that the heats for the 100m would be held on a Sunday, he refused to take part. It was a courageous decision, and despite enormous pressure, he refused to compromise his faith and instead prepared for the 400m race, a distance over which he was not expected to do well.

    On the morning of the race, he was handed a note on which was written the Bible verse, ‘He that honours me, I will honour’. Encouraged, Liddell took the race at a sprint and won, breaking the Olympic and world records.

    J.John’s booklet entitled Running the Race of Your Life is written to create curiosity and conversation during the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2024. 47,000 copies of this booklet have already been distributed to UK prison chaplains and other prison-focused groups in preparation for a summer season of sport-themed ministry to prisoners. Other groups have ordered copies in bulk to give to parents at Olympic-themed children’s holiday clubs, foodbanks, door drops throughout the community and in schools and churches across the country.

    J.John said: “We are delighted that this booklet has already had such a significant reach. It is such a simple resource to be able to give to someone to stir curiosity and conversation. We are still praying that we might ‘God-willing’ distribute one million copies by the end of the year, and we are planning how we can further develop this initiative to reach even more people with the Good News of Jesus ”

    Abigail Irozuru, an Olympic long jumper explained: “This little pamphlet is a wonderful reminder of the power of sport as a vehicle to fulfil the gifts and purposes of the Lord in our lives. Everybody has their own ministry and it’s amazing that Liddell’s lives on in a legacy that has spanned a century. Thanks for creating ‘Running the Race of Your Life’ to inspire others through Liddell’s faith and sporting story. It particularly resonates with me as an Olympic long jumper; his story has always inspired me. Hopefully, in the hands of young people, this will be a great opportunity for them to reflect on what comes first in their lives – rightfully elevating God’s plans, purposes and promises in their lives, no matter how difficult that may be. What an important challenge for us all!”

    Copies of the booklet are available at raceofyourlife.co.uk. Costs have been kept as low as possible to enable churches and ministries to place bulk orders. Booklets are priced at 10p per copy plus postage and packing.  

    Main Photo Credit: Alexander Redl via Unsplash

  • Faith: Free Christian Festival in the Cornish countryside

    Creation Fest 2024 is a free Christian music festival featuring one hundred activities and a skatepark. It takes place over the weekend of August 1st – 4th at Royal Cornwall Events Centre, Wadebridge located in the Cornish countryside.

    The free skate park hosts daily skate sessions, demos, talks and workshops from a team of international pro skaters. There will be a packed programme of talks, art workshops, fitness sessions and sports activities. The children’s and youth programme are designed to keep even the most energetic kids entertained and give parents the freedom to enjoy all that the festival has to offer.

    Camping is available on site in either a tent, a caravan, or a glamping unit. This summer, Creation Fest is offering space to explore the deep questions of life, wherever you are on your faith journey. To find out more, see the full programme and book your day visitor or camping tickets, go to www.creationfest.org.uk.

    Main Photo Credit: Getty Images