Fossil festival returns to home of Mary Anning

Lyme Regis has been hosting a fossil festival since 2005

Top fossil hunters and palaeontological experts are gathering for an annual fossil festival on the Dorset Coast.

The Festival Lyme Regis Fossil celebrates the geological heritage of the Jurassic Coast.

It features talks, shows, walks, exhibitions, interactive displays as well as the premiere of a film about the life of pioneering palaeontologist Mary Anning.

Organiser Nick Meecham said the festival had a "really ambitious programme".

Steve Etches is among the speakers at the festival

Branded as "the UK’s leading palaeontological event", the two-day festival features free family activities at several prominent locations on the seafront.

Speakers include Steve Etches who helped excavate the skull of a pliosaur which was featured in a special David Attenborough BBC documentary.

The 2m-long (6ft 5in) fossil was one of the most complete specimens of its type ever discovered.

The festival also includes the premiere of a new film about pioneering palaeontologist Mary Anning.

Director Sharon Sheehan began writing and researching the film, Mary Anning and the Dinosaur Hunters, in 2000 after a trip to Lyme Regis with her daughter.

In the biopic, she plays Anning in her adult years, while her daughter, Katy Hamilton, is the young Mary.

Katy Hamilton plays a young Mary Anning in the film written and directed by her mother

The film stars Jenny Agutter as Miss Philpott, Mary Anning's mentor, and was partly shot in Lyme Regis, where Anning lived and made her historic discoveries.

The fossil festival was rescued last year after organisers initially cancelled it due to a lack of financial support.

It had been cancelled previously for two years because of the Covid pandemic.

Local organisations, including the parish council and Lyme Regis Museum, came come forward to save the festival.

Mr Meecham said: "After almost losing it last year, we're back again this year and its even bigger and better... were really excited to have put this together."