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Good morning, My grandparents knew every II world war song by heart and often sang them to me at bedtime. Good night sweetheart Till we meet tomorrow Sleep will vanish sorrow. And with the dawn A new day is born The musicals during and after the war brought camaraderie and hope into their home, and the pubs. My mother died when I was 6 years old and my grandfather, who lost his mother when he was 2 and also knew terrible tales of the trenches, used to look at me with a cheeky side glance, tap his foot and sing ‘pack up your troubles in your old tin bag and smile.’ And they used to love Christmas with frank Sinatra or Nat king Cole songs which, in that moment, - no matter how hard the times - filled us with what was more important – love, family and a taste of hope. Without these I am not sure we would have survived. Art of course is not only a support and inspiration. It also helps us look in the mirror and contemplate what we are doing. I will never forget the time I watched Katerina’s final speech in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. I cried for hours and my appreciation of what women have been through changed. I was lucky to see it. Friends in the Free Belarussian Theatre Company, which has been banned by the government, still risk their lives to keep theatre going; in mUkraine the folksong of the red tree is sung as an act of resistance. And in the 2021 documentary about Greta Thornburg, we saw unexpected moments where - as she travelled on a sleeper train to make a speech or prepared her words in a foreign library - she stops, for just a moment, and dances. The Government faces hard decisions about what to prioritise in its spending programme. It seems to me Arts are not just about quality of life but about survival. In lent Christians cover up the art in their churches to turn their creativity inwards and wait. Although we do this every year, we will discover new insights and potential that we have not yet found. When Holy Week arrives, and the tale of the life death and resurrection of Christ is told again. These stories are taken onto the streets in Walsingham in Norfolk, Granada in Spain and the Old city in Jerusalem and people re-live the experience. Without creativity there would be no encounter. We are not mechanistic beings, we are creative and I believe this is how Grace unexpectedly finds us and supports us to co-create a brave new world.