Flowers to bring splash of deep purple to raise awareness in fight against polio
Hundreds of purple flowers will be planted in a town to highlight the role of Rotary in eradicating polio.
Shrewsbury Town Council has taken delivery of 400 crocus corms from The Rotary Club of Shrewsbury which will be planted by staff in the town.
Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than thirty-five years.
Margaret Thrower, President of The Rotary Club of Shrewsbury, said: “Each year, members of the Rotary Club plant thousands of purple crocus corms in suitable locations around the country to highlight our continuing fight to eradicate polio around the world.
“It’s great to be able to work in the community with both the town council and Shrewsbury in Bloom and donate these crocus corms as part of our annual promotion of our life-changing initiative.
“This year, our Rotary Club will be distributing 4,000 corms to various organisations throughout the Shrewsbury area and we look forward to seeing the colourful results in the spring.”
The colour purple has been chosen as this was the colour that children’s fingers were historically dyed once they had been inoculated against polio.
Gary Farmer, operations manager for the town council, has identified the junction of Longden Coleham and Moreton Crescent as an ideal location to plant the crocus corms. He added: “We hope that they will provide a colourful display in the spring, whilst also highlighting an important programme to help stamp out a devastating virus affecting young children.”
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a paralysing and potentially deadly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of five years. The virus spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can then attack the nervous system.
Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Experts say if all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyse as many as 200,000 children each year.
