LYME Regis's fossil heritage will be celebrated when a hands-on event "kicks off the festival season" this weekend.

Visitors to this year's Lyme Regis Fossil Festival can build sand sculptures, enjoy a bearded ladies exhibition and enjoy workshops from the likes of the Natural History Museum and the British Antarctic Survey - as well as dozens of other workshops and events.

This year's them is time, tide and tectonics, and a new project by geologist Richard Edmonds will create a sand timeline along the beach.

Heather Prior, co-ordinator of the Lyme Regis Fossil Festival, said: "It's all feeling a bit more real now. It has taken a long time to get here and it's now beginning to happen.

"We are taking over part of the sandy beach and Richard is going to create a timeline and the idea is that we have all these posts and we have lots of pictures and creatures that existed at that time. We are going to invite families and children to choose what they want to make a sand sculpture of with the help of Mark Anderson from Sandworld in Weymouth."

The low tide will mean the sculptures will remain in place on Saturday, before being washed away for a blank canvas on Sunday morning.

The Electric Voice Theatre will be running a mini-project at the Marine Theatre called Super Women of Science while a 'bearded ladies' project will also pay tribute to female scientists including Lyme Regis' Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot.

The Natural History Museum will set up camp at The Hub, while organisations including the British Geological Survey and the Palaeontological Association will be taking part at locations across the town.

Ms Prior believes it's very important that Lyme Regis celebrates it's Jurassic heritage - while the event gives internationally-recognised organisations a chance to interact with the public.

She said: "It gives the Natural History Museum an opportunity to engage with people.

"A lot of these organisations have objectives to engage with people and we are the foremost fossil festival in the UK and we are the biggest biggest fossil festival in the UK. We started in 2005 and it's got a real following and has gained momentum over the years."

She added: "It's a coastal festival and it's really important. It's on the seafront and it pulls everything together. It's useful for businesses as well and it really kicks off the festival season in Lyme Regis."

The school's day will be held on Friday when pre-booked groups of pupils will take priority until 2.30pm, before the festival is completely open to the public on Saturday and Sunday.

Organisers are appealing for volunteers, especially young people to get involved in the event. Anyone interested in volunteering should email heather@lrdt.co.uk and for the full programme, visit fossilfestival.co.uk