On Monday 19th February, the Jurassic Coast Trust invited children and families connected to Julia’s House hospice to a very special event at Dorset County Museum – an intimate audience with Dippy.
The evening was attended by 25 children and their families with a range of health conditions and abilities. It was hosted by time-travelling Victorian scientist Dr. Ford (Dr Anjana Ford, Jurassic Coast Trust Programme Manager), who was on hand to guide children around the specimen; alongside Dippy artist in residence, Lorna Rees from Gobbledegook Theatre, who sang fossil songs and performed personalised theatre, including just how large a diplodocus poo could be!
Children from Julia’s House hospice going ‘Dippy’!
Obviously, the main attraction was Dippy, and children and adults were awestruck by the sheer scale of the dinosaur. Everyone showed great enthusiasm for discovery and displayed huge amounts of curiosity in the natural world. Precious memories were made, and a very special evening was enjoyed by everyone involved.
Sam Rose, CEO from the Jurassic Coast Trust said:
“As a long-time personal supporter of Julia’s House, I am delighted that the Jurassic Coast Trust has had the opportunity to work with this fabulous organisation and give some children and their families the opportunity to come face to face with this awesome dinosaur Dippy in such a personal and dedicated way. To see how happy the kids were is inspiring, and we hope to build on this relationship with the Hospice and do more to link their children and families with the spectacular Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.”
Children from Julia’s House ‘Go Dippy!’
During the evening, the party made Dippy-inspired hats, invented and named a new type of Sauropod (the ‘undestructasaurus’) and wrote a song. Families also had the chance to look round the rest of the museum and particularly enjoyed the Jurassic Gallery and seeing Dippy’s near contemporary, our own star from the Jurassic Coast, Pliosaurus Kevanii.
Maria Carroll from Julia’s House said of the experience:
“WOW! Thank you for making our families feel like VIPs when we met Dippy, we had the museum to ourselves and were made to feel really special. They all loved taking selfies, making hats and learning dinosaur facts. We are really looking forward to our next visit when we will be able to sleepover – How exciting!”
Children, families and staff of Julia’s House hospice, Jurassic Coast Trust and Gobbledegook Theatre
The Jurassic Coast Trust will be hosting a special Dippy Sleepover for siblings and staff of children from Julia’s House on 10 March which will be attended by 60 families and is promised to be exciting evening for all!
Dippy on Tour is brought to you by the Natural History Museum in partnership with the Garfield Weston Foundation, and supported by DELL EMC and Williams and Hill.
