Alex is Vice Chair of the Jurassic Coast Trust
It isn’t often that a brilliantly sunny Saturday morning in Lyme Regis makes me groan and utter the words “oh, if only it would cloud over…”. But that was what we were saying last week when the wondiferous Tim Britton, author and illustrator and all round good egg, was at Lyme Museum all ready to sign copies of his book A Mighty Tale… and yet everyone was resolutely out strolling along Marine Parade enjoying the glorious day. Visiting a museum just wasn’t high on the agenda for most of the sun-seekers!
Tim was there not just to sign copies of his book, proceeds from which go to the Jurassic Coast Trust, but to read from it – using The Voice, yes that voice, the one that features in the brilliant film version of A Mighty Tale.
Author Tim Britton reads from the book
Amazingly, despite the lure of the beach and the outdoor cafes, some intrepid fossil fans did come and see us. They got to hear The Voice read the book, they got to see The Hand (yes, that hand, the actual one that stars in the book and the film) sign their copies and, for good measure, they could enjoy our free Jurassic fun activities, including the ever-popular fossil dig box. Without exception, the kids that came to see us knew an AMAZING amount about the fossils of the Jurassic Coast and they were a delight to meet – as were their patient parents who perhaps were hankering after an al fresco cappuccino but instead found themselves getting drawn in to the delights of the fossil handling box. Most people who came to see us also signed up as Friends of the Jurassic Coast, and the kids are all on the waiting list to join our brand new Go Jurassic scheme, launching very soon, for all junior fans of the Jurassic Coast.
It wasn’t the stampede we were hoping for, but it was still a brilliant way to spend a Saturday morning! We sold some books, we met some fab people who love the Jurassic Coast and we inspired one Dad to take the book home and see if he could read it just like Tim, terrific rolled Rs and all!
MASSIVE thanks to Tim for his time and good humour, to the volunteers at Lyme Museum who welcomed us (and made us tea!), to Gina, our Jurassic Coast volunteer who lugged stuff around, handled a minor pen crisis with aplomb (it’s a book signing and we have no pens that work…. Argh!) and was a terrier at signing people up, and, of course, to The Hand and to The Voice for their wonderfully nuanced performances.
Alex O’Dwyer
