Over the last year, Dorset and East Devon museums have benefited from a substantial Heritage Lottery Fund grant which has placed spectacular, locally-discovered fossils in local museums for the benefit of residents and visitors. The initiative, called Jurassic Life, will help to open up the incredible stories of the Jurassic Coast through new exciting displays…
In the summer of 2010, Dianne Godden, the wife of Mark Godden, quarry manager for Albion Stone on Portland, noticed a strange brown pattern on the recently cleaved face of a huge block of Portland Stone. Little did she know that the find was that of a fossil turtle belonging to a genus known as…
Charmouth beach is due to have a new Olympic, award-winning footbridge by Easter. Artists Sans façon led on the design alongside Dorset County Council engineers, thanks to a grant from the Arts Council England. The Charmouth footbridge is a real team effort, bringing together the Dorset County Council arts team, Dorset Engineering Consultancy, Dorset Countryside…
Able, Gifted and Talented Geography pupils from selected schools across the Jurassic Coast have chosen a stretch of coastline to undertake a year long research project, investigating four main questions: Why is the coast special to me? How is the coast currently being managed? What are the challenges that communities face with coastal change? What opportunities…
The first part of 2011 will see the Jurassic Coast Team and partners out on the road, and coming to a Town Hall near you. We are undertaking an extensive set of public meetings in this, the 10th anniversary year of the coast’s inscription on the World Heritage List. The Jurassic Coast Roadshows, which will…
A piece of good news is rare in the current financial climate, but in East Devon, Sidmouth Town Council have come up with the goods. Part of their recent decision to invest in refurbishing their seafront Sidmouth shelters is to provide some excellent new Jurassic Coast interpretation facilities. The shelters have been made into two…
The Jurassic Coast Arts Programme is really gaining momentum as we approach Spring 2011. Most of the projects that we have been working on over the last two and a half years are bearing fruit over the coming months and we’re really excited to share the resulting great art with you. We will be launching…
It’s rather like waiting for your exam results…the decision of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) committee was expected on the 8th December and from lunchtime onwards I anticipated the telephone call from Simon Williams of Weymouth & Portland Borough Council. Since the round 2 bid for £550,000 was submitted in August, I’ve wondered: Was it…
Thank you so much to everyone who joined us at one or another of the Earth Festival Stakeholder meetings. We have been overwhelmed and delighted by the level of interest, and excited at the prospect of working together to create something that is not only memorable and significant during the Olympic and Paralympic year, but that…