Pumpkin competition to battle polio
A "guess the weight of the pumpkin" competition by Telford Centre Rotary Club has raised £1,300 towards an international campaign to eradicate polio.
Members of the public were invited to guess the weight at £1 a try at the competition stall held at Asda at Telford town centre, and then the following week at a pitch outside W H Smith in the shopping mall. The weight was 88lbs and the event collected over £650, which was matched pound for pound by the Bill Gates Foundation to give the total.
Two winners closest to the correct weight received £50.
The competition was a local contribution to Rotary International's "eradicate polio" campaign to wipe out polio entirely. Concerted efforts have seen a dramatic fall in the number of cases, with only 33 worldwide this year year.
The campaign's emblem is a single purple crocus and Telford Centre Rotary Club plans to plant purple crocus bulbs at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital to highlight the campaign.
