On Friday, the 28th of October 2011, Belmont House School’s Eco-Committee attended an event in Rouken Glen, hosted by the Eastwood Rotary Club, where we planted purple crocuses to help raise funds for “Thanks For Life”: the Rotary project which is leading the way in a world-wide effort to eradicate polio. This effort was part of their overall End Polio Now campaign.
Contributing a mere pound to plant five crocus bulbs can actually prevent five children from being infected with polio, one of the most dreaded childhood diseases of the previous century. Major, widespread epidemics around the turn of the century provided the impetus towards the creation of a vaccine in the 1950’s, which reduced polio cases per year from hundreds of thousands to about a thousand.
We may be fortunate enough to view it as a throwback, but polio, which remains incurable, still cripples thousands of children around the world who lack access to the vaccine, particularly in Nigeria and Southern Asia. The Rotary Club’s campaign stops at nothing short of eradicating the disease from the planet, once and for all, and we were proud to be a part of their undertaking.
Our school planted over one thousand bulbs that day. So, the next time you’re passing by Rouken Glen, glance over at the crocuses and you may see a “B” for Belmont!
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