In the still of the night

6 August 2009

Church Army Evangelist Alison Wooding held an hour-long prayer vigil on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, in the wee small hours of Sunday 2 August.

Between 2am and 3am Alison prayed for fellow Evangelists, friends and family members, whilst also publicising Church Army's Life to the Full campaign, and new interactive website Make Jesus Famous.

As Alison says on her plinth profile page: "I am fascinated by the spirituality of the Desert Fathers and people who did wild and wacky things for God. In the desert and at the margins of society the Desert Fathers, and Mothers sought God – a solitary way of life that has puzzled people down the ages."

A few hours after her stint on the plinth, Alison was interviewed by BBC Radio Sheffield (Sunday Breakfast) where she described the sensation that only minutes seem to have passed by, rather than a whole hour.

Alison stressed that she was promoting the need for us all to sit still and just "be with God", and it was remarkable how the noise - and occasional heckling - died right down, halfway into her prayer time. One heckler repeatedly called out to her to "do something", to which Alison said on Radio Sheffield: "I thought to myself, 'Thank God I'm not doing anything!'"

To see a film about Alison's work on the Manor Estate in Sheffield go to Church Army online.