The Guides
Chris is the lead guide for Fossilwise, but is sometimes helped out during peak seasons by other experienced fossil guides! You may find the other guides available to book at busy times.
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Please check the Online Bookings Timetable for their availability.
Chris Andrew
Lead Guide
MSc, PGCE
Chris has been collecting fossils for over 45 years, and has been a professional fossil guide for 25 years. Chris's tour style is chatty, easygoing and full of fun. Chris has taken tens of thousands of people out on the beaches of Lyme, including TV crews, school groups, and even some famous faces. He believes that all education should be fun and entertaining, call it ‘edutainment’ if you will.
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Chris was previously the Education Officer at Lyme Regis Museum and has a PGCE (teacher training qualification), as well as a degree in Zoology and a Masters in Museum Studies. He has also worked at Bedford Museum and Hazlemere Museum in Natural History Curation and public outreach. Whilst Chris was at Bedford Museum he discovered a new species of pliosaur, which is now named after him (look up Marmonectes candrewi!). He collects all sorts of fossils, and his favourites are the ones that have really interesting stories.
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Chris is also interested in military history, metal detecting, marine biology, wildlife, local history, and any entertaining and amusing anecdotes!
Richard Edmonds
Seasonal Guide
Richard "Jurassic Richard" Edmonds discovered his first fossil on Charmouth Beach in 1971 — a perfectly preserved pyrite ammonite — and that moment marked the beginning of a deep and enduring connection with the Jurassic Coast.
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He grew up in Lyme Regis and attended Woodroffe School before studying geology at the University of Hull. The years that followed were filled with exploration and varied work, from mountain climbing and oil rig shifts to a volunteer post with the National Trust for Scotland. In 1986, he returned to Charmouth as the inaugural warden of the Heritage Coast Centre, guiding young fossil hunters across the same beaches that had inspired him years before.
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In 1997, Richard joined Dorset County Council to help shape what would become the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. He remained involved for 17 years, contributing to the site’s development and public profile. Since leaving in 2015, he has continued to reflect on the evolution of that work, while dedicating more time to hands-on engagement with the coast’s geological heritage.
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Now in what he calls a state of “pretirement,” Richard combines decades of experience with an undiminished curiosity, sharing his knowledge with visitors and locals alike and continuing to celebrate the remarkable stories written in stone along the Dorset coastline.
Dr Neville Hollingworth
& Sally Hollingworth
Seasonal Guides
Neville Hollingworth
Ever since he was a small child Neville always had an interest in nature and the outdoors, he was given his first fossil at the age of six which turned out to be fake, someone, for a prank had drawn a leaf on a bit of Sandstone. Undeterred, this ignited his interest to find a real fossil which culminated in his first find, an ammonite when he was 11 whilst living in Yeovil.
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Since then, he has never lost his interest or passion for fossils, and has been collecting them ever since. He decided to be a palaeontologist and studied for a Geology Degree at Newcastle University followed by a PhD in Palaeontology at the University of Durham. Rather than following an academic career, Neville found communicating science was one of his interests and his career was a Public Engagement Manager at the Science and Technology Facilities Council in Swindon engaging people with everything from Atoms to Astrophysics.
Sally Hollingworth
As a child, Sally collected ‘treasures’ often filling her sister’s pram with her finds, but never followed the path as Neville did, later turning to amateur astronomy.
Volunteering for Cotswold Astronomical Society at the Cheltenham Science Festival is where they met in 2015 at an event hosted by STFC - under the skeleton of George – the Gorgosaurus. Fossil collecting together in 2016 lead to a fossil vertebra find – but only half, Neville later went back to the quarry to look for the other half and suggest a pub meeting to see if the halves met – and they did. Sally & Neville married in 2017 and enjoy fieldtrips together and have shared many exciting new discoveries - some making headline news in the field of palaeontology.
With excellent organisational & field management skills, Sally & Nev have led on the projects to excavate the Mammoth Graveyard at Cerney Wick in the Cotswolds.