Purple Crocuses for Polio
Sun, Oct 15th 2023 at 3:11 pm- Mon, Apr 1st 2024 - 5:11 pm
Knaresborough Rotarians have been busy planting some of the 8000 purple crocus bulbs they are planning to plant in and around Knaresborough this October
Planting Purple crocuses for Polio
The great British weather doesn't stop our Rotarians!
We dispatched some of our hardiest members this afternoon, to plant half of the 8,000 purple crocus corms we've ordered for in and around Knaresborough this year. Rotary plants thousands of purple crocuses across the country at this time of year, in order to raise awareness of polio eradication and because 24th October is World Polio Day.
Thanks to Linden Homes for giving us permission to plant at the Castlegate development near Aldi today.
Next Saturday (21st Oct) we're planting 2000 at Farnham Village Green 1-3pm, if you'd like to come along and help or say hello. All welcome.
We've also got 2000 going to Nidderdale High School in the next couple of weeks. We're always looking for prominent places around Knaresborough if you've got somewhere you can point us in the direction of, please get in touch.
What have crocuses got to do with Polio eradication you ask?
In countries where the oral polio vaccine is still given, it has been the custom to mark the child's little finger with purple ink, to show that they've had their dose. We plant purple crocuses to symbolise the purple finger.
Polio has not gone away, cases have been recorded in Pakistan and Afghanistan this year and there were public health alerts in New York and London when polio was found in waste water (probably linked to oral vaccine in someone who had travelled from another country), which was a reminder that Polio can come back if we let our guards down.
It's not over until it's over everywhere. Rotary and our partners are committed to seeing Polio eradication through to the end, making it the second disease after Smallpox that has been eradicated worldwide through vaccination and public health measures.
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