Richards, Noel

b 1955. Brought up in Llantrisant nr Cardiff, where he attended the Pentecostal church. He became a believer as a child, making a re-commitment at the age of 15. At that time, around 1971, the new young guitar-playing minister John Glass encouraged him to play and sing in public. On leaving school he worked for 3 years in a drawing office but did not find this exciting enough; a period as a supermarket sales asst followed. But he was increasingly involved in schools evangelism, and was finally offered a full-time job with Youth for Christ. He spent a year ‘on the road’ learning fast and encouraged by Clive Calver; his songs were mainly evangelistic, and in 1979 the first of them was published. Since 1986 he has recorded several song albums; see also the following entry. Nos.477, 626, 743, 786.