THE Lyme Regis Fossil Festival will go ahead this year, it was confirmed this week.

The fifth fossil festival will take place in Lyme and Charmouth over the first May Bank Holiday weekend.

It follows the huge success of last year’s event, Evolution Rocks!, when thousands of people flocked to the resort to learn about the sciences and take part in fun events.

A new team has been appointed by Lyme Regis Development Trust to organise this year’s festival and their first job is to find the estimated £90,000 it will cost to put the event on.

The theme for the four-day festival is Dead and Alive, to link in with the International Year of Biodiversity.

New director Kimberly Clarke said: “We are going to be trying to make that link between what fossils tell as about biodiversity and the importance of biodiversity in terms of the maintenance of different species.

On Thursday, April 29, the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre will host a special educational needs day, followed on Friday in Lyme by the schools day.

The Saturday and Sunday will be open public days, with events taking place in marquees on the seafront and hopefully at various venues around the town.

The festival will also have a strong arts programme, after it proved popular last year, with events such as street theatre and science-themed performances at the Marine Theatre.

Scientific partners such as the Natural History Museum and Natural England will also be involved and their experts will lead talks and events.

Marcus Dixon, chief executive of Lyme Regis Development Trust, said: “It’s great that we are part of this national group led by the Natural History Museum and the festival forms part of that. It continues the work we did last year as part of the Darwin Bicentenary, so this is an ongoing project.”

Planning for the festival has started late this year, leaving organisers with tens of thousands of pounds of funding to find.

Ms Clarke said: “We are quite a long way off finding all the funding so that is our main task over the next few weeks.

Lyme Bay Holidays have given us £2,500 and we are looking for more sponsorship with local companies.”

Organisers believe the festival will have huge benefits for Lyme Regis and the surrounding area.

Ms Clarke said: “We have moved it slightly earlier than last year, when it was the second May Bank Holiday. Having it slightly earlier will bring more people to the town during that shoulder season.

“Certainly the festival has put Lyme on the map in the scientific community in a fun, festival way that hadn’t really existed before.”

The event relies on volunteer support and new helpers are being invited to sign up.

“We really want to get more community volunteers, especially among young people, to give them some real responsibility,” said Ms Clarke.

“We are really keen to get people involved in science when they are young.”