The Lyme Regis Development Trust and Lyme Regis Museum are delighted to have been awarded a grant of £36,800 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to run events over Easter this year - all based around local fossilist Mary Anning.

Mary Anning Day, Lyme Regis.

Mary Anning Day on Friday 18 March will celebrate her life and work, with the wonderful Mary Anning Actress; puppet video; fossilists; basket maker; new drawings by Philip Thompson and even a bus called Mary Anning.

The Fossil Festival on 8 and 9 April will be an unusual collaboration with London's Natural History Museum. The Fossil Festival will celebrate the unparalleled role that Charmouth and Lyme Regis have made in the birth of the earth sciences and geological importance within the World Heritage Site.

The Festival will deliver a range of participative educational activities, which aim to reveal the meaning and significance of the Towns heritage. This will be achieved by focussing on the use of original objects, by first hand experience, and by illustrative media.

The Festival is being staged through a partnership comprising Natural History Museum, Charmouth Heritage Centre, Lyme Regis Museum, Lyme Regis Development Trust, World Heritage Site Steering Group and provide a range of interactive workshops, exhibitions, events, walks, trails, for people of all ages and backgrounds from both the local community and those visiting the area.

Thanks to the grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund all the events will be free and Charmouth and Lyme Regis will be celebrating their famous fossils and fossilists.

For further information please contact Marcus Dixon at the Lyme Regis Development Trust.