Polio Efforts Recognised

POLIO FIGHT RECOGNISED

Pictured L-R: David Fitzgerald, Darren Hands (holding the PR Trophy) , Rotary District 1290 Governor Maxine Stoyel, John Allen, Peter Gorton and Tonia Couch

Rotarians efforts in West Devon & Cornwall towards the fight to end Polio have recently been rewarded.  At the recent Rotary GB&I (Rotary in Great Britain & Ireland) Conference, Darren Hands from the Rotary Club of Plympton

was recognised for his work on the local variataion of the Rotary "ThisClose to Ending Polio" campaign posters at this year's national conference.

This year, there were two exceptional PR campaigns which the judges felt were both worthy of recognition so in a first, the Rotary GB&I PR Trophy was a joint award.  The award was shared with the Rotary Club of Grantham's Paul Wilson and the Rotary Swimarathon he organised - also in aid of Rotary's Polio efforts.

Darren created a localised This Close campaign in our district by contacting local celebrities and asked if they would donate their support and time to help create posters and also be active participants in the campaign. Aysha Iqbal from the BBC signed up along with Olympic hopefuls Tom Daley and Tonia Couch, BBC Radio Devon presenter David Fitzgerald as well as a host of other well known faces.   With the help of photographer John Allen, 11 different images were created of local personalities.

Having recently discovered his mother suffered from Polio as a child, Darren is passionate about the Polio campaign and the need to End Polio Now.   

This award comes at an important time in the fight to end Polio, as Darren explained, India has just had its first Polio free year but the remaining three endemic countries are the toughest ones to crack.

Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon last week made the following statement to throw further weight behind the fight: