Page 19 - BPW-UK - E-news - Edition 110 - March 2023_Neat

A Lyme Regis school girl, Evie Swire, started a campaign in 2018 to have a
statue made in her honour after doing a school science project on this local extraor-
dinary woman, because she wanted Mary and her achievements to be remembered
in the town. She also spoke to pupils of other schools to find out what they thought.

“ If we are looking at white old men on pedestals all day it is not very inspiring
for girls like me, is it?” she said.

Professor Alice Roberts and Sir David Attenborough became patrons of the
campaign, which raised over £100,000 and Denise Dutton, a sculptor from Stoke-on
-Trent was commissioned to create the statue. That is quite a story too.
Read more here

The statue was unveiled on 21 May 2022, the 223rd anniversary of Mary An-
ning’s birth, by Professor Alice Roberts.

Mary Anning is now referred to as the ‘unsung hero of fossil discovery’ by the
Natural History Museum and an interactive geology gallery has been added to the
Lyme Regis Museum, which is built on the site of her home and fossil shop.

Find out more at:

www.maryanningrocks.co.uk
https://lovelymeregis.co.uk/fossils/mary_anning

Discover magazine
UN International day of women and girls in science

Ros Horsley - North West and Midlands