4,000 purple crocuses planted last year for polio campaign bloom in Storrington

Members of Storrington & Pulborough District Rotary Club planted the crocuses around Storrington Memorial Pond to act as an annual reminder of the campaign while spreading some springtime joy.

Purple has become a symbolic colour in the global Rotary campaign to eradicate polio, inspired by the colour of the dye painted on the little finger of a child to signify they have received a potentially life-saving polio vaccine.

Rotary club president Pippa Davies said: “We were delighted to plant these purple symbols of the polio campaign at Storrington Memorial Pond and to play our part in the continuing global efforts to eradicate the disease.”

Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years and the goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever. As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Rotary has reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since the first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979. Recently the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Africa region has officially been certified wild polio-free.

Rotary members worldwide have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly three billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease and its advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.