Purple crocuses for polio

Anyone coming into Gala from Edinburgh, by rail or road, will be treated to a blanket of purple in the Spring. The Gala in Bloom Volunteer Gardening Group have planted over 7000 purple crocuses, donated by Gala Rotary at the end of Ladhope Vale.

The purple crocus is a symbol of Rotary International’s fight to eradicate polio throughout the world. To show children have taken part in the immunisation programme, they have their pinkies dipped in purple dye.

Rotary, working with the United Nations and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has succeeded in making the world 99% polio free but, in August, the World Health Organization confirmed two cases of wild poliovirus type 1 in Nigeria. These are the first cases in the country since July 2014. This shows the need to redouble efforts to help Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria to retain strong immunisation coverage and, hopefully, to rid the world of this highly infectious and disabling disease which can be fatal.

To mark World Polio Day on 24 October, Gala Rotary is giving £500 raised at their recent collection in the town to the End Polio Now campaign. This will be tripled by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As each immunisation costs about 40p, this money will save 3750 children across the world from the risk of being paralysed by polio.