Libby Jackson

From Rae Duke, Religion and Ethics teacher and broadcaster. 
Today is my Mum and Dad’s wedding anniversary. 38 years ago they said ‘I do’ and, although I wasn’t there to witness it, I did later manage (aged 4) to tamper with one of their most treasured memories of the day. Because, several years before that favourite childhood game of recording your own radio show onto a cassette player, (please tell me you did this too Zoe!) I unintentionally recorded over a song written by my uncle and performed by him on their big day. 
Just one verse and chorus into the personalised ballad comes the rambunctious babbling of a much younger Rae, an embarrassing audio debut! Despite my interruptions though, my uncle’s song still makes for a wonderful listen; evoking the mood and transporting you back in time. Whilst heaps of stuff is different right now, one stalwart saviour is music. I’m reminded of this every single day; a toddler’s heat-induced meltdown diffused by a Disney sing-along around the piano, the hallowed first drink of the weekend, enhanced by Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’. There’s been an especially powerful example I’ve loved following of just how music can raise spirits, and that’s of a London vicar (he goes by the title ‘the Portobello Priest’), who’s taken a couple of big speakers to the streets outside London’s hospitals and has then boomed out of them Judy Collins’ stunning version of that favourite hymn, ‘Amazing Grace’. 
The response has been truly amazing; an emotional outpouring on social media after passers by captured the musical moment on their phones, and care workers and patients alike finding great comfort in hearing the song from inside the hospital. The project isn’t stopping there though… as Judy (who’s quite possibly the most glamorous octogenarian folk singer of all time), is teaming up with voices from around the world to re-release her beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace – and all the proceeds are going to the World Health Organisation Solidarity Response Fund. With this global virtual choir backing her, made up of both pros and those who only sing in the shower, Judy is setting out to bring some healing and calm to the world via a song that’s been a source of hope for centuries. She says: “We will survive this with love and music and amazing grace.”