The winner and runners up of the 2020 award were announced on Wednesday 29th July 2020 on a Zoom webinar. Tom Westley presented a cheque for £100 and certificate to the winner of the award, along with certificates to those who were highly commended. We were very pleased this year to receive 8 applications, including one female applicant, and 7 under the age of 25! Nominees were all were from England – Manchester to Cornwall and across to Kent. We hope in future to hear from those becoming involved in belfry maintenance elsewhere!
The judges were Penny Taylor, Tony Crabtree, David Roskelly, Alex Fishburn and Peter Woollam.
WINNER –
Sue McClaughry – Calstock, Truro Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers
Highly Commended –
- Lucas Bent – Walthamstow, Essex Association
- Nominated by Katherine Marshall
- James Joynson – Stichcombe, Gloucester & Bristol Diocesan Association
- Nominated by Chris Cooper
- Josh Richardson – Dunsfold, Guildford Diocesan Guild
- Nominated by Chris Rogers
- Edward Walker – All Saints, Nottingham, Nottingham University Society
- Nominated by Evie Newton
While the judges awarded “highly commended” to 4 young people, they were still very impressed by the 3 other applicants for the work that they are doing in their towers. They encourage all the nominees to keep up the good work, learn more about belfry maintenance and continue to share and encourage others to do likewise! Well done to them all!
Future plans
We hope that this award will become an annual event. Perhaps in future years, we will receive applications from Scotland, Wales, Ireland or even further afield! The Stewardship & Management Workgroup is building a “network” of people interested in church bell maintenance; all the nominees have been invited to join this and anyone else interested in doing so should contact the Workgroup Leader.
A full report will appear in the Ringing World in due course.
Alison Hodge – Stewardship & Management Workgroup Leader ()
29th July 2020