By Barbara Thomas

The PESGB have just taken delivery of a beautiful fossil cast courtesy of Steve Etches. This is a superb Ichthyosaur preserved so well that the stomach contents can still be seen. It’s a cast of one of many magnificent fossils which Steve has collected over the course of his lifetime and which are now displayed at the Etches Collection Museum in Kimmeridge, which was funded primarily by the Lottery but with help from others, including the PESGB.

www.jurassiccoast.org/etches/collection

Steve isn’t a geologist by trade but there is no denying his ability to find, extract and preserve the best specimens that the Kimmeridge Clay of the Jurassic Coast has to offer. Some of his finds are big enough to have warranted a small crane to get them off the beach, although in fact it was mostly done with considerable muscle power

The PESGB team went on a field trip to the Kimmeridge area in Oct 2015. We were lucky enough to see Steve’s collection when it was still housed in his living room and garage!! His enthusiasm for fossil collecting shone through and he talked us through the preservation processes. He has some notable ‘firsts’ in the museum.

At supper that evening, Steve promised me a cast of whatever I wanted from those we had seen during the day. It had to be the iconic Ichthyosaur because the detail had entranced me. It’s taken a while (and not inconsiderable prodding!) but Steve finally came up trumps and dispatched the specimen to East Croydon. Thanks Steve.

If you are nearby and want to se it for yourself I’m sure the team would be delighted to welcome you. Sadly I am no longer there but one of my first tasks at the PESGB was to ‘brighten the office’ so I’m really pleased with this acquisition as I can’t think of anything more appropriate to adorn the walls.

And if you are visiting Dorset or passing through, do try to visit the museum. It would be hard to leave unimpressed.