This week's events at Lyme Regis Museum

A belated Happy Birthday to Mary Anning who was 212 years old yesterday!

TALKS

Thursday 26 May 2.30pm - LYME’S LITERARY LINKS: David Coates will talk about great literary figures who have been inspired by and lived and worked in Lyme. Jane Austen, who wrote about Lyme in Persuasion, and John Fowles in French Lieutenant’s Woman are the most notable, but also children’s author and illustrator Beatrix Potter, who came to Lyme in 1904 and wrote about the town in Little Pig Robinson; J R R Tolkein, author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, who regularly visited Lyme for his summer holidays between 1905 and 1910; Henry Fielding, novelist and playwright, who visited Lyme as a young man and tried to elope with a 15-year-old heiress; Francis Palgrave, poet and editor of the poetry anthology Golden Treasury; P G Wodehouse, G K Chesterton and Ivy Compton-Burnett.

Saturday 28 May 2.30pm AND Sunday 29 May 2.30pm - KNOW YOUR FOSSILS: Chris Andrew will provide answers for all would-be fossil collectors. Expert and enthusiastic fossil hunter himself, Chris will tell how to find, identify and handle fossils, as well as how and what fossils lived, and how they are preserved to the present day, almost 200 million years on. He will show some recent unusual finds not previously on display, and invites you to bring your own discoveries along for identification if you wish.

EXHIBITIONS

MARY ANNING AND THE MEN OF SCIENCE. An exhibition exploring the relationship between local fossil-hunter Mary Anning (1799-1847) and the great men of science of her day. The exhibition is supported by a grant from the Royal Society and runs until 6 June.

FOUNDLING VOICES. An exhibition celebrating one of Lyme’s famous sons, Thomas Coram, who established the Foundling Hospital in London. Hear voices of former pupils of the Foundling Hospital recounting life before, during and after their time in the institution. This touring exhibition from London’s Foundling Museum can be seen in the ground floor gallery until 31 May.

FOSSIL WALKS

Sorry, no Fossil Walks this week.Regular walks resume next week.

OTHER WALKS

Monday 23 May 15:45 - Rockpooling 
Saturday 28 May 14:00 - Mary Anning Walk

For full details of upcoming events, see What's On at the Museum.