A design for a statue of Mary Anning, the pioneering palaeontologist, has been released as campaigners make a final push to secure funding.The Mary Anning Rocks campaign aims to create a permanent
A CAMPAIGN to immortalise one of Lyme Regis most famous residents has smashed its fundraising target. In spite of the challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic, the campaign to build a statue of Lyme Regis fossil hunter Mary Anning has reached its target of £100,000. This amount is enough to cover the projected cost of erecting the statue of the groundbreaking palaeontologist. The project began when local schoolgirl, Evie Swire, was shocked that there was not already a statue of Anning to acknowledge her achievements. Evie, along with her mother, Anya Pearson, started the Mary Anning Rocks campaign shorty after. Ms Pearson said: Evie and I are both so thrilled that we have smashed the target. We were holding our breath as we watch the total tick closer and closer to the final amount.
THE campaign to erect a statue of famed fossil hunter Mary Anning has reached a landmark in its fundraising efforts. The group behind the Lyme Regis statue campaign can commission an artist to create the sculpture - and they want to include the community in their plans moving forward. The campaign was started by local schoolgirl, Evie Swire, when she was just 11-years-old, because she couldn t understand why the renowned paleontologist had not already been immortalised in this way. The amount raised has shot up by more than £20,000 over the past month. The current amount raised for the project is currently more than £82,000.
And the campaign to immortalise renowned Lyme Regis paleontologist Mary Anning is close to achieving its goal. The campaign group behind the project – which was inspired by a young girl s dream – has released images of early designs for the statue by its chosen sculptor, Denise Dutton. The sketches depict Anning with her dog, Tray, striding out towards the beach. Local girl Evie Swire started the campaign, with the help of her mother, Anya Pearson, when she was just 11. Evie is now 13 and a fundraising campaign is £20,000 away from the group being able to commission an artist. The idea began when, after a day at the beach, Evie asked her mother, ‘Why isn’t there a statue to Mary? - the Mary Anning Rocks campaign was born shortly after.