We Won’t Mention The ‘C’ Word - Promise!

On the 21st May this Spring, Mary Anning will be celebrating her 221st Birthday! What a brilliant time to launch our Crowdfund......!

And then the dreaded 'C' word arrived and threw all our lives up in the air, and with the ever evolving events taking place globally we knew that even with the best will in the world we understood that there wouldn't be much appetite for crowdfunding. It’s effect on us all, our communities and the economic uncertainty this may bring, we made the decision to postpone the launch.

Our thoughts go out to all of you who have been affected by this unprecedented event and we want you all to be safe and focus on what’s important.

A member of our committee put it so well when they said:

‘Mary Anning will get her statue, she's waited this long, so another year or so isn’t going to hurt…..’

We hope you understand and agree.

BUT! It's not all bad news! You can still help shout about Mary Anning Rocks on her birthday and here is what you can all do from the safety and comfort of your own homes? Evie and the committee sat down (via Zoom) and brainstormed some ideas. Pick a few, do one or do them all. Either way, anything you do will make a huge difference for Mary and for Evie's campaign.

• It's Not What You Know - It's who you know! We are all so connected these days, our links to community, friends and family via social media are truly amazing and an awesome tool we can all wield. So the next time you see one of our posts don't just hit the like button, please re-tweet, sent to someone you know will like it, actively go after folks in your circle who you know or think would like to be involved. Reach out with your awesomeness and your amazing connections and lets quadruple followers for Mary Anning Rocks.

• Buy a Summer Art T-Shirt - You have bought just over 500 of our T-shirts and the best seller to date is still our ode to Joy Division 'Unknown Plesiosaurs'. This summer we have asked our artist community to create some new designs for you. We are still uploading and waiting for artists to get back to us but please check them out and shout about them to all your friends (remember point one?)

• Another Auction - You awesome lot helped us raise over £5,000 on the run up to Christmas last year. It went so well we want to do it again and give others a chance to donate. We would love you to donate fossils, fossil walks, behind the scenes visits, artworks, books - anything you like. Some of the biggest amounts raised were off the back of things that had no links to Mary. If we can sell it, we will have it!

• You Tell Us! - It's always lovely hearing from you, so don't be shy. If you have an idea for fund raising or ideas on building our crowd, let us know. If you know of an organisation that offer awards and grants, tell us. Or if you are philanthropist looking for a worthy cause, look no further. 

• Donate - It's never easy asking for peoples hard earned cash, especially in the unprecedented circumstances we currently find ourselves in. But the simple fact is that if everyone who has ever said 'I love fossils' donated a penny to Mary Anning Rocks, we could all put our feet up and have a nice cup of tea. Any amount, however small, makes a huge difference to this campaign’s success. 

Thanks everyone, stay safe, batten down the hatches and see you all on the other side 

Hugs from Evie and The Mary Anning Rocks Team.

PS -  We are looking at possibly launching our crowdfund at the same time as the premier of the film Ammonite about Mary Anning's life starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan. We've been told this will most probably be towards the end of the year (looks like they are going after Oscars) - So look out for news of that later in the season and let us know what you think?