Joyce Underwood
takes a stand for ME on Trafalgar Square's 4th plinth

'What a fun idea!' I thought to myself, back in early June when I saw some publicity on the web inviting people to put themselves forward to go up on the fourth (usually empty) plinth in Trafalgar Square. Anthony Gormley (Angel of the North man) had the idea for the Arts project where the plinth could be occupied by one person at a time for each hour during 100 days and nights. Anyone could apply and it was entirely up to them what they would do when they were up there and entrants would be selected at random.

I'd just taken early retirement in May and had been pondering on how to keep life challenging. This plinth idea certainly ticked the box - so I filled my e-mail and phone number in on screen and rashly clicked 'submit'. I was absolutely confident that I wouldn't be picked from the thousands of entries, but at least I could pretend to myself that I was 'putting myself out there'.

It came out of the blue - THE PHONE CALL! "Could you do the 10-11pm slot on the plinth on Monday?" Panic! Panic! I heard myself saying that I'd ring back in 10 minutes and let them know. "What would I do? No I can't do it - it's too high and scary - I'm not creative or confident enough," were all flashing thoughts.

Thankfully my daughter Jenny was around and quite calmly said "Mum, you HAVE to do it - now that you've been selected. If you say 'No' you'll always regret it and think you let go of a great opportunity. You could get up there and raise awareness about ME" - and of course, as usual, she was right!

I was chewed to bits during three days of scrambling together some posters and information cards, trying to think of what messages I wanted to get across and how I'd do it - an hour seemed a long time to fill. Monday was upon me in no time and I was still fretting on the train wondering "How did I ever think this seemed like a fun idea?".

Stepping out of the taxi in Trafalgar Square was like stepping into a dream - I suddenly felt much calmer - it all looked so beautiful with the new coloured lights in the fountains, the floodlit buildings and there it was, THE PLINTH - occupied by a small illuminted figure sat quietly sketching. There was a friendly crowd below and people just going about their business.

"It's no big deal," I thought, "I CAN DO IT - just be yourself and say what you have to say." Before I knew it I was being transported across Trafalgar Square on a cherry picker crane to be offloaded onto the plinth. You can see me in action at http://www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/Joyce_U. Time flew, I could see the hands of Big Ben whizzing by and I can honestly say that after some initial nervousness, I enjoyed being up there - best of all I didn't fall off!

The response has been overwhelming - I've had so much positive feedback from so many people - I'm still on a high! In fact now I think I can do anything.