A PROJECT which protects and conserves fossils across the Dorset coastline is set to benefit from an £80,000 funding boost.

The Jurassic Coast Trust has been given the funding courtesy of the John Ellerman Foundation’s Museums and Galleries Fund.

The trust will use the £80,000 grant to deliver the next phase of its Jurassic Coast Collection over the next two years.

The next phase will focus on three key aims; improving public access and engagement with fossils through programming, digital content and exhibitions, supporting the management and sustainability of existing public fossil collections with a number of museums and visitor centres in Dorset, Devon and further afield and addressing the question of long-term security of privately owned fossil collections.

Lucy Culkin, CEO of the Jurassic Coast Trust, said: “We are thankful to the John Ellerman Foundation for supporting this work, which has been frustratingly constrained due to the effects of Covid; along with our partners, we are now looking forward to taking some significant steps in the near future.”

The Jurassic Coast Collection was created to conserve the fossils collected across the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, and to engage people with the stories they hold.

The long term security of fossils is a long term ambition for many of the Jurassic Coast’s dedicated community of fossil collectors, whose specimens are largely held in private ownership, and which the trust believes need to be to be secured for the long-term benefit of the World Heritage Site and the hundreds of thousands of people who live on and visit the coast.

This Jurassic Coast Collection’s next phase will deliver a scoping study assessing the various options to achieve this.

Chris Reedman, conservation officer at the Jurassic Coast Trust, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have secured funding from the John Ellerman Foundation to drive the Jurassic Coast Collection forward.

"This work represents a unique opportunity to conserve and inspire people with the phenomenal specimens collected along the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. We look forward to working with our partners to deliver the Jurassic Coast Collection’s next phase.”

For more information on the Jurassic Coast Collection, visit www.jurassiccoast.org/jurassic-coast-collection