The 2011 Lyme Regis Fossil Festival, celebrates both our Jurassic Sea heritage and the spectacular diversity of life in Lyme Bay today. When we study the rocks in the cliffs along our coast today we are studying the remains of the seas that existed millions of years ago. The Jurassic Coast’s UNESCO World Heritage status rests on the unique tableau that we see today, displayed for us to admire thanks to the unimaginably slow geological processes and the active, dynamic relationship between the cliffs and the sea.
This year our Festival partners will bring you both the ancient and the modern. Marine fossils will bump into seafood, along with many other Lyme Bay inhabitants that you really wouldn’t want to eat.
http://www.fossilfestival.com/
Fossil Festival at Lyme Regis Museum
Lyme Regis Museum has a busy programme of walks, talks and family activities on all three days of Fossil Festival – from Friday April 29 to Sunday May 1 – and admission is free for everyone. Visitors will see the museum’s superb fossil collection, discover the extraordinary story of Mary Anning and the town’s role in the history of science, and enjoy a new Jurassic Life display of fossils found by local collectors during recent years.
The timetable for the museum fossil festival events is:
Friday 29 April
- 10am-4pm – Play the Big Fossilisation Game
Fossilly version of snakes and ladders on a big scale!
Venue: Marquee FREE - 11am-3pm – Paint your own Fossil Plaster Cast
Make-and-take family fun with Phil Anslow.
Venue: Museum – small charge for materials - 7pm – ‘Know Your Fossils’ Talk by museum expert Chris Andrew – learn all about fossils and how to find them. Suitable for all ages from 9 years old Venue: Museum FREE
Saturday 30 April
- 9am – Family Fossil Walk
Get hands-on for 2½ to 3 hours on the Jurassic Coast with celebrity fossil hunters Paddy Howe and Chris Andrew.
Meet at Museum – adults £10/children £5 - 10am-4pm – The Big Fossilisation Game
Venue: Marquee FREE - 11am-3pm – Paint your own Fossil Plaster Cast
Venue: Museum – small charge for materials - 11am – ‘Mary Anning’s Discoveries’
Talk by Tom Sharpe, Curator of Palaeontology at National Museum of Wales. Suitable for age 12 and above.
Venue: Museum FREE - 12noon – ‘A History of Lyme Regis Museum’
Talk by Max Hebditch – former curator of Lyme Regis Museum.
Suitable for age 12 and above. Venue: Museum FREE - 1pm – Mary Anning Walk
Explore the paths and streets of Old Lyme as Mary Anning knew them with Natalie Manifold. Walk takes about 1½ hours.
Meet at Museum – adults £6/children £3 - 3pm – ‘Introducing the Ammonite’
Talk by Stephen Locke on Lyme’s quintessential fossils.
Suitable for age 12 and above. Venue: Museum FREE
Sunday 1 May
- 9.30am – Family Fossil Walk
Get hands-on for 2½ to 3 hours on the Jurassic Coast with Paddy Howe and Chris Andrew.
Meet at Museum – adults £10/children £5 - 10am-4pm – The Big Fossilisation Game
Venue: Marquee FREE - 11am-3pm – Paint your own Fossil Plaster Cast
Venue: Museum – small charge for materials - 11am – ‘Mary Anning’s Discoveries’
Talk by Tom Sharpe, Curator of Palaeontology at National Museum of Wales. Suitable for age 12 and above.
Venue: Museum FREE - 1pm – Mary Anning Walk with Natalie Manifold. Walk takes about 1½ hours. Meet at Museum – adults £6/children £3
- 3pm – ‘Bringing Ammonites Back to Life’
Talk by Professor Chris Paul. Drawing on recent research by the museum team and academic colleagues, Professor Paul explores how scientists investigate the lifestyle of extinct fossils and what we can reconstruct about the life of ammonites in particular.
Venue: Museum FREE
It is strongly advised to book walks early – telephone 01297 443370. Bookings for other events are not necessary.
