Formby Squirrels Rotary Club purchased 5,000 Crocus Corms and have gifted them to each school in For

Back in July, Formby Squirrels Rotary Club purchased 5,000 Purple4Polio

Crocus Corms and have gifted them to each school in Formby. Each School

has therefore received about 500 bulbs to plant somewhere within their school

grounds where they will be seen and appreciated next Spring and for many

years to come.

The photograph shows Ruth Swift, Vice President and Angela Bramhall,

Secretary, of Formby Squirrels Rotary Club with pupils from Woodlands

Primary School Eco Group and some of the 5,000 crocus corns.

The purple crocus is a symbol of Rotary’s worldwide campaign to eradicate

polio, with its colour representing the purple dye used to mark the finger of a

child to indicate they have received their life saving oral polio vaccine.

The Purple4Polio crocus corm planting 2016 was a huge success with nearly 7

million purple corms being planted across Great Britain and Ireland resulting in

a carpet of purple in communities during spring 2017. The campaign has helped

to raise awareness of how important it is to end polio now and forever.

For over 30 years, Rotary and its members have been committed to fighting to

eradicate polio across the world. Polio is a terrible disease that can kill or

severely disable children.

The amount of polio-endemic countries has dropped from 125 to just three, with

over 2.5 billion children receiving vaccinations thanks to the help of Rotary.

Polio has no cure, which means immunisation programmes are essential to

prevent children from contracting this disease. Until polio is eradicated, children

everywhere are at risk.

It costs just 20p to immunise a child, plus with the 2-to-1 donation matching

scheme from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, your £1 will become £3,

meaning 15 children can be protected for life. Your local Rotary club would be

delighted to have your support for the Purple4Polio campaign and would love to

work with you to end polio now.

Formby Squirrels Rotary meet at 7.30pm on the second Thursday of each month

at The Community Fire Station, Church Road, Formby L37 3NH and hold a

social event at various locations every fourth Thursday. New members (or

people simply interested in finding out more) are always welcome, call 07891

732117 or email rotaryformbysquirrels@gmail.com for more details.