Crocus planting with Forest and Sandridge school

Wed, Nov 23rd 2016 at 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

During mucky Wednesday at Forest and Sandridge school, the children brought spades and gardening gloves to plant Rotary crocuses


As part of the global campaign to end Polio, the crocus has become the instantly recognisable symbol of Rotary, the crocus shares the same colour (purple) as the dot given to each person immunised against the virus.

Melksham Rotary members decide to invest in a box of Crocus corms as part the reconition of 100 years of Rotary Foundation this year, and to raise awareness of the need to end Polio now.

We owe a massive thank you to Mayor Terri Welch who organised the planting of some of the corms by enlisting the help of some school children.

Every Wednesday is 'mucky Wednesday' when the children get a chance to get involved with nature and the great out doors.  Their teacher, Mrs Bacon, kindly involved the children from the older classes in the school to put on their clothes that they were happy to get dirty and along with safety tabards and gardening gloves, meet Mayor Terri and other volunteers at the site for planting on Eastern Way.  President Verly and Past President Sarah were there too to lend a hand.

Terri and her volunteers had measured out 1 meter squares on the bank, which were then cut out with edging tools, followed by garden spades to lift the turf.  The turf was then laid to one side to be used again later.

The soil was then raked to give a nice surface for the corms. In each square 150 corms were planted before the turf was carefully replaced and flattened down.

Many thanks go to the wonderful children from the school who certainly showed that many hands make light work. They worked so well together in their teams and really seemed to enjoy the experience. To thank the children President Verly gave them all a crocus badge which includes a message about the significance of the crocus and Polio erradication.