Alison is looking to a higher power in taking to plinth

Published on Thursday 1 October 2009 10:00

CHURCH rector Alison Fuller will have to overcome her fear of heights when she takes up her latest preaching perch this weekend.

She will spend an hour 25ft above the ground on the empty plinth in London's Trafalgar Square as part of Anthony Gormley's One & Other art project.

Ms Fuller, the rector of St Columba's-by-the-Castle Episcopal Church in Johnston Terrace, said: "I'm not very good up ladders. In applying for a slot on the plinth, I never expected to be chosen so I didn't really think it through properly about my fear of heights.

"The platform is only 4.4 by 1.7 metres so I will be hard pressed not to look down. But I've taken some advice from a psychologist in the congregation about what to do if I feel dizzy. He says I have to keep my blood sugar level up, so I'll take plenty chocolate and Kendal mint cake."

Ms Fuller plans to use her hour on the plinth, from midnight on Saturday until 1am on Sunday, which is St Francis' Day, to highlight three causes close to her heart: the work of the Franciscans and their role in reaching out to the poor, Waverley Care and its care and support for people living with HIV or Hepatitis C and her own church.

She said: "I'm going to punctuate the hour every ten minutes with prayer. And in between I have a series of reflections and case studies related to the three organisations. A member of the congregation has also written me a wee ditty to sing."

She will also take special requests for prayer which people can text to her while she is on the plinth.

A small band of supporters plan to travel down to London with her. She has contacted two Church of England congregations close to Trafalgar Square – St Martin in the Fields and St James's Piccadilly – and is hoping some of their members will turn out to show their support.

And back in Edinburgh, her own flock at St Columba's-by-the-Castle are planning a special plinth party, where they will watch Ms Fuller via the One & Other website.

She plans to wear the same cassock she wears to preach every Sunday. "It's an all-weather cassock which I've had all my ordained life," she said. "It's quite warm and it means I'm easily identifiable."

And she is hoping she will not face heckling from drunks as she speaks in Trafalgar Square.

"We quite often have interactive sermons at St Columba's, so I don't mind that – but I suspect it might be a different style on a Saturday night."