Eradicating Polio worldwide

World Polio Day took place on Monday 24 October 2016. To mark this occasion Whitley Bay Rotary Club purchased and planted over 4000 purple crocus bulbs at the entrance to Waves Leisure Centre in Whitley Bay.

The planting of the bulbs was to mark and support Rotary International's ‘Purple 4 Polio Day’, a national Rotary project, which had taken place all over Europe in 2016.
All the monies raised to purchase the crocus bulbs will help to fund the vaccination costs world-wide.

Past President Brian Royce explained; "Fighting polio has been International Rotary's main humanitarian focus for over thirty years. We are now within reach of eradicating the disease completely and to date over 2.5 billion children worldwide have been vaccinated.
The purple crocus bulb has been chosen because it highlights the colour of the marker dye applied as an indicator to the little finger of each vaccinated child.’’

The club would like to express its thanks to North Tyneside Council and the staff of the Leisure Centre for allowing the Rotary Club to highlight this worldwide crippling disease in this way.

Now four years on in 2020 we are delighted to see an established sea of purple crocuses in front of the ‘Waves’ Leisure Centre being closely inspected by a fellow Rotarian's grandchild!

If you would like to learn more about Whitley Bay Rotary's activities please do not hesitate to call us on 07419 736989.