First posted: 8 March 2021

2021 ART Award to Laura Goodin of Melbourne

Laua Goodin

Congratulations to Laura Goodin of St. James Old Cathedral Melbourne. She won the Association of Ringing Teachers 2021 ART Award for Innovation in Recruitment or Retention, which recognises achievement in bringing new people to ringing and in helping existing ringers stay enthused and involved.

Laura has developed lesson plans (and made them freely available) and run classes using Ringing Room to teach the basics of ringing specifically as an online activity, mainly to people who have never rung before. She has also written several articles to support others run similar classes. Laura founded the Facebook group Ringing Room Take-Hold Lounge in April 2020 as a gathering place and clearinghouse for people ringing virtually.

While many people quickly saw the benefits of Ringing Room as a teaching tool, Laura was the first to conceive of using it as an introduction to bellringing for absolute beginners, who may never have so much as entered a bell tower, and as a recruitment tool for people who might simply want to find out more.

Upon accepting the award, Laura said, I'm excited and honoured to have received this award, especially in this time where we're seeing the most profound changes in bellringing since Fabian Stedman first jotted Plain Hunt down on the back of an envelope. It's been my very great privilege to have been able to take advantage of this sudden dramatic expansion of access to ringing to reach out to established, new, and potential ringers, and help them build new ringing communities that span the globe.

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