Heather Bellamy spoke with the visionary, Richard Gamble, a former Leicester City F.C. chaplain.



Continued from page 1

We're hoping that this national landmark will be something that will inspire people and give people hope where they can't find any.

Shortlisted entry for Wall of Answered Prayer
Shortlisted entry for Wall of Answered Prayer

Heather: You're talking about a national landmark by the side of a motorway, so where exactly will this wall be built?

Richard: At the moment we are working on our shortlist. We are traveling around the motorways of the Midlands and identifying pieces of land and we hope to have a shortlist of land within the next few weeks.

We are looking to announce the piece of land by the end of summer. At that point we basically run a competition with the Royal Institute of British Architects to design this and you can see the designs on the website. We have five shortlisted designs. We will then take the architects to visit the piece of land and they will take their concept as design and fit it with the landscape. So hopefully we will know exactly what the 'Wall of Answered Prayer' is gonna look like by the beginning of next year.

Heather: So is it really as simple as that? You just go, find a piece of land, purchase it and build a national, iconic landmark by the side of the motorway? Is there no need for permissions anywhere with councils, government, or anything like that?

Richard: I wish it was as simple as that. I love explaining things simply, but they never are. Yes, of course, I'm also having conversations at the moment with councils. The 'Angel of the North' is a good reference point because it brings about £500 million worth of benefit to the Gateshead area. Also, not only are we building the wall, but for every brick that is donated in the wall, we're also gonna donate another brick to Social Housing. So we're gonna provide bricks for about a hundred social houses.

Shortlisted entry for Wall of Answered Prayer
Shortlisted entry for Wall of Answered Prayer

Clearly, we are looking for a council for which that will benefit and who is ambitious and wants to have an attraction. Then we will have the whole rigmarole of planning. Who knows, that may be straightforward, but I have no expectations. So there's a long way to go, but we just have to approach this huge project step by step and chunk by chunk. We're looking to lay the first brick in 2020.

Heather: Have you had any conversations with any council's yet? What sort of response are you getting to your idea?

Richard: At this stage, I have to say that it's pretty positive. We're in a time of austerity and so I think for them anything that economically could benefit their area is looked upon quite favourably. We've had a few off the record conversations and they're looking quite promising.

Heather: You've talked about each brick representing an answered prayer, what does represent mean? Will the answered prayers be written on each brick? How will people know it's a 'Wall of Answered Prayer' as they drive past?

Richard: The challenge for the architects, is to try and create a structure which is iconic, so that people driving past will go, "Wow that looks amazing, what is it?" and look to explore more. Then for people who actually come and visit the site, we'll have a visitor centre, so that they will be able to interact with the structure. We're looking at lots of clever technological ways of doing that. One of the approaches which seems favourite, is having a little bit of technology on each brick, so that when you put your phone up against the brick with an app, you'll be able to see the actual prayer, whether it be written or by video, that relates to that particular brick.

Shortlisted entry for Wall of Answered Prayer
Shortlisted entry for Wall of Answered Prayer

Heather: You've referred to the fact that it's just going to be Christians submitting testimonies, so it's a Christian faith 'Wall of Answered Prayer', rather than a multi-faith wall. Would you be happy for other faiths to have such a big iconic landmark in the nation as well?

Richard: Yes I would and the reason for that is this, I think we make a great mistake in this nation and get a bit muddled with the concept of multi-faith. I think multi-faith is not about chucking everybody together and agreeing on everything. I think having a multi-faith society is about allowing people of different faiths to express their beliefs freely and to be able to be bold in their expression. So for us, this is about us hopefully, as a Christian community in this nation, and people across the globe, giving them the opportunity to boldly express what Jesus has done in their lives.

Heather: So who is supporting this wall so far, what organisations or individuals that people might have heard of?