Planting Purple Crocuses for End Polio Now Campaign
Together with local schools, we are planting purple crocuses to raise awareness of the campaign to eradicate polio from the world.
The purple crocus is a symbol of Rotary’s worldwide campaign to eradicate polio, with its colour representing the dye used to mark the finger of a child who has been immunised. A life-saving oral polio vaccine costs just 20p.
For over 30 years, Rotary has been working hard to rid the world of polio – a terrible disease that can kill or severely disable children. When Rotary started the campaign to eradicate polio, there were cases present in 125 countries worldwide, now just two countries remain polio endemic; Afghanistan and Pakistan. During that time, Rotary has helped immunise over 2.5 billion children and reduce the number of polio cases by 99.9%.
In recent years, Rotary has worked with the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) Britain in Bloom, community-based gardening groups and other groups to plant millions of purple crocus corms across Great Britain and Ireland. By covering our parks, gardens and green spaces with crocuses, we are aiming to demonstrate how the humble crocus can symbolise a colourful splash of hope for a new beginning for children and how working together whilst having fun can make a huge difference.
Members of The Rotary Club of Rayleigh Mill have had help from schools in Rayleigh and Hockley to plant a total of 4,000 crocus corms in school gardens, so that come the Spring they will be bathed in purple. Here are the children from Downhall Primary in Rayleigh planting their crocuses.
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Our Club Events and Activities
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