£100,000 appeal for Mary Anning statue hits target
AFUNDRAISING appeal backed by celebrities for a statue to pioneering Westcountry fossil hunter Mary Anning has reached its £100,000 target.
Now the campaign is aiming to raise another £50,000 for a legacy to ensure the next generation of scientists get back on the beaches as Anning did 200 years ago.
Mary Anning, born in Lyme Regis in 1799, followed her father into the trade of hunting fossils in the Jurassic cliffs as a child.
She was so gifted in understanding the anatomy of creatures of a vanished age that she was dubbed the Princess of Paleontology and won a European reputation.
But as a member of the working class, and a woman, she still did not earn the true recognition she deserved, even though male scientists were happy to buy the specimens she had spent months unearthing and understanding.
She was barred from becoming a member of the Geological Society of London because she was a woman, and died of breast cancer at the age of 47. Her life is the subject of the film Ammonite, starring Kate Winslet, partly filmed in Dorset and scheduled for release this year.
At the age of 11, Dorset schoolgirl Evie Swire launched the Mary Anning Rocks appeal two years ago to raise funds for a statue celebrating her heroine in Lyme Regis. Broadcaster and anatomist Professor Alice Roberts lent her support as did Sir David Attenborough and novelist Tracey Chevalier, author of Remarkable Creatures.
Now Evie’s mother has announced: “Evie and I are so thrilled to tell you that we have smashed our target.”
The statue will show Anning dressed as for her fossil-hunting forays, striding forward with her faithful dog following at her heels. Her work was dangerous with storms bring chunks of cliff tumbling to the beach and her dog died in one such cliff fall.
Evie’s mother, Anya Pearson, said: “We had three large donations come through but none were over £5,000... this statue was made possible by everyday people.”
Mary Anning Rocks has now triggered its £50,000 appeal for a sustainable learning legacy – an educational programme of free learning materials and fossils walks for children from under-served backgrounds.