Mary Anning Rocks!

[Crackington]

Not sure if this has been posted before, but I have just donated to a crowd funding campaign to erect a statue of the great Mary Anning in Lyme Regis, England.

The campaign was started by a remarkable young school girl, Evie Swire, who wondered why there was not a statue of the pioneering paleontologist in her home town. Evie has led an excellent campaign with wide media coverage and has got support from Sir David Attenborough, Prof Alice Roberts and Prof Jack Horner amongst others.

There is a very good website where you can make a donation at: www.maryanningrocks.co.uk

Please give them your support if you can.

[Ravonium]

I've seen this before, and it is definitely a good idea for a campaign    (in spite of the circumstances in which I discovered it  )

[Halichoeres]

That's a great effort. It's gratifying to see Mary Anning get her due, even if very belatedly.

[Crackington]

Ravonium, whatever those circumstances were I hope you can get over them, but thanks for acknowledging the Mary Anning campaign nonetheless.

Halichoeres, quite agree that a statue is long overdue. As a father of 2 girls and an occasional visitor to the Jurassic Coast, it's really important that Mary Anning is given more visible acknowledgement in her home town.

The website also makes clear that the campaign is also about celebrating women in science and history to help encourage young women and provide role models.  I found it quite shocking that in the UK there are more statues to people called John than there are to women! This clearly needs to be addressed and this statue will help with that process.

[Halichoeres]

The website also makes clear that the campaign is also about celebrating women in science and history to help encourage young women and provide role models.  I found it quite shocking that in the UK there are more statues to people called John than there are to women! This clearly needs to be addressed and this statue will help with that process.

Wow, that comparison puts it in very stark terms, doesn't it? All the more reason to support this installation.

[Ravonium]

I found it quite shocking that in the UK there are more statues to people called John than there are to women! This clearly needs to be addressed and this statue will help with that process.

Yeah, that is definitely a very convincing argument for erecting the statue. Another good (read: a better) one is that according to the website, there is only one statue of a woman in the entire South-West of England.

Weirdly, in my town, there are more statues of women than men (but this is solely because there's none of men, and it is counteracted by the war monument just down the road).

Ravonium, whatever those circumstances were I hope you can get over them, but thanks for acknowledging the Mary Anning campaign nonetheless.

I'm fine, it was nothing personal (or even something I was involved in, just something I saw a few days after it happened).

[Crackington]

Bit of an update on the Mary Anning Rocks campaign. I hope folk don't mind me pasting this here for people to hopefully support:

We are so excited to announce that our crowdfund page is now ready! Please click the button below, donate and share with as many people as you can.  Let's get Mary Anning the statue she so rightly deserves and the learning legacy that will live on beyond the statue, making sure Mary is never forgotten again!

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/maryanningrocks

Thanks - Crackington

[Crackington]

I'm in touch with the campaign and there is a bit more news on things.

The crowd-funding is a big push to get the statue funded - they've made a lot of progress with this, having the Lyme Regis Council on board and having a site  set aside for it ( you can see this on their website). They also have a sculptor on standby, so it's just the tricky business of getting the funding now.

Please donate if you are able and help spread the word. They have suggestions for different donation amounts and rewards for doing so. £15 for instance gets you a ticket to the unveiling which they are planning for September next year (bearing in mind the pandemic!).

There's a new video with Prof Alice Roberts and Evie Swire, the school girl who started the campaign and you can see it here, thanks 


https://youtu.be/O2jGQZhvY0o

[Libraraptor]

My best friend teaches biology and is a real natural scientist with all his heart. I think of giving him a little contribution to the statue as a Christmas present.

[Crackington]

That sounds great @Libraraptor! Their website also has some cool t-shirts. My girls have bought me one for Xmas (the Sex Pistols one  )!

Good way to support the campaign and find pressies:

https://www.maryanningrocks.co.uk/t-shirts

[Libraraptor]

Unfortunately it does not seem to be possible for people from foreign countries to donate. I bought two T-Shirts and a great print as Christmas gifts for me and my best friend who is a biologist. I read that this money goes into funding the money for the long overdue statue, too.
It is a great thing to contribute to such a project and I hope many others from this forum will follow.
We owe this woman so much! I found this great video, enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-CW0B4YeBQ

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

I really hope this project does well

[Crackington]

Heartily agree @Gothmog the Baryonyx and well done @Libraraptor for getting the t-shirts and print supporting the campaign.

I'm in touch with Anya, young Evie Swire's mum, who started the campaign and she has asked me to keep plugging the campaign on the Forum on their behalf. I hope members won't mind if I keep giving it a push.

I'll check with Anya about the crowd funding not working for overseas people, not sure if there's a glitch somewhere but thanks for flagging it up.

[Libraraptor]

Heartily agree @Gothmog the Baryonyx and well done @Libraraptor for getting the t-shirts and print supporting the campaign.

I'm in touch with Anya, young Evie Swire's mum, who started the campaign and she has asked me to keep plugging the campaign on the Forum on their behalf. I hope members won't mind if I keep giving it a push.

I'll check with Anya about the crowd funding not working for overseas people, not sure if there's a glitch somewhere but thanks for flagging it up.

Maybe I was simply too stupid to recognise where one from overseas can donate although it maybe possible. Thus I went for the Shirts.

If you meet or talk to Anya and Evie again, please tell her I am impressed by their efforts ! (and I really respect the work and concerns of all the other peolpe involved) . Supporting this campaign to me is a matter of decency.

It´s not only about placing a statue at some seashore. It´s about telling and showing young people and especially girls effort makes sense and pays off.

It´s unusual that things like gender equality in science are seriously taken care of these days.  At first sight, concerns like these seem abdicable these days. And many people only care for their own little private world instead or have themselves being impressed by the influence of the virus or autocratic politicians. They concentrate more on the impossibilities than the chances in their lives.

However,   I´ll tell my friend the biology teacher about your project, too. Maybe he finds some ideas how to spread the word at his school in Germany.

[Crackington]

Hi @Libraraptor, excellent post and spells out precisely why the statue campaign is so important. I think Evie and her Mum are not so much into fossils/paleontology, but more motivated by the need to celebrate women and working class people's achievements. It's galling to them that their home town's most famous historical figure is so little marked there. If Murchison or Conybeare were from the town, you can bet there'd have been a statue to them!

Here's a link to the crowd funding page:
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/maryanningrocks

You have of course already supported them by buying the t-shirts and contributing to this thread and spreading the word too! Thanks for posting the video as well, I enjoyed it.

[Crackington]

Hi all and especially @Libraraptor, I've heard back from Anya and Evie today and they are thrilled for all the support they have received from the Forum. Please keep spreading the word and support them if you are able.

They confirmed that non-UK people can support the crowd funder:
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/maryanningrocks

What might be confusing is that UK tax payers have the option to tick gift-aid, whereby the charity  can later claim back a small amount from the UK Inland Revenue. People donating are thus asked to put down their address and this of course requires a UK postcode. Overseas people should not tick the gift-aid box, nor fill in any address details. You should be able to donate without doing that. Hope this works for our overseas friends 

[BlueKrono]

Thanks for the tip so that we of the international community can contribute. There are few people I'd be more excited to see a statue of than Mary Anning. I'd love to visit if I ever make it to England someday.

[Crackington]

Hopefully you will one day @BlueKrono - it's a great place and where they are planning to put the statue is where some of the fossil hunting trips go from. What a great way to start a day out on those historic beaches

I found a good recent BBC article on Mary Anning linking the new Ammonite film, but then doing a good summary of her life and significance and featuring young Evie Swire and the statue campaign.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-dorset-54510746

It was of interest to me to see local fossil hunter Paddy Howe quoted too. My family and I went on one of his trips a couple of years ago and he was a very knowledgeable, kind and patient man.

He helped us prepare our ammonite haul in his workshop cum shop in Lyme town. A fascinating
place in a small house basement, packed full of amazing fossils - worth visiting too if you ever visit Lyme Regis.

[BlueKrono]

@Crackington

That would be a thrill. I'm not big on the cephalopods, but I'd love to someday own a plesiosaur fossil from Lyme.

[Crackington]

Hi @BlueKrono ,

Wow, a Plesiosaur fossil would be something else, very expensive if (almost) complete. Plesiosaur finds are I believe rarer at Lyme - hence Mary's achievement in finding the then best preserved one.

You can actually find bits of bone etc at Lyme though. On our fossil walk a lucky teenager found an Icthyosaur centrum, the bit of vertebrae which fossilize like a slightly warped disc. They are very distinctive and quite common if you can get your eye in.

I found that difficult though and it seemed to be the kids who were the champion fossil finders, perhaps due to their sharper eyes and being closer to the ground. I found only four belemenite guards all day and some broken ammonite bits, whereas my youngest daughter found a handful of belemnites and a small but beautifully preserved ammonite, now proudly displayed at home.