Balloons go up for Trafalgar Square plinth's 'Ms Ordinary' star of the plinth

SHE SAYS she can neither perform nor entertain. But Londoner Jill Gatcum will enthral thousands when she becomes one of the first ordinary men and women honoured on the Trafalgar Square fourth plinth.

Ms Gatcum, 51, an IT consultant, aims to release balloons during her hour in the spotlight to raise money for good causes.

She is asking supporters to "buy" a balloon with a donation to charity. She intends to inflate and release one every 60 seconds, with a card attached asking the finder to make a donation and record the result on her website. "I don't have any talent apart from being organised. But I wanted to do something that was jolly and unusual," she said.

Ms Gatcum, of Marylebone, will be the third of the 2,400 people awarded an hour each on the plinth by random computer selection as part of Antony Gormley's living people sculpture, One and Other.

Starting the project at 9am on Monday is Rachel Wardell, 35, a mother of two from Lincolnshire, who will highlight the NSPCC's helpline for reporting child abuse.