Clee Hill Community Academy is the first primary school local to Ludlow to join with Ludlow Rotary Club to establish a Rotakids club.
RotaKids is a fun and exciting way for primary school children to make friends and get involved with activities in the community, while having a great time in the process. Children enjoy a boost to their confidence and self-esteem at a key age and develop an understanding of how their actions can impact on others.
To bring an international aspect to their project, the Rotakids at Clee Hill have planted purple crocus bulbs donated by Ludlow Rotary Club to support the world wide campaign to End Polio Now.
As of today, there are only three countries in the world that have not yet erradicated polio: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. Just 37 polio cases were confirmed worldwide in 2016, which is a reduction of more than 99.9 percent since the 1980s, when the world saw about 1,000 cases per day.
On being vacinated the little finger of each child is dipped in permanent purple ink and as a result purple has become associated with the End Polio Now project and the purple crocus has also been adopted as symbol of support for the efforts to erradicate this dreadful disease. All donations received for bulbs will be sent via Rotary Foundation to support the continued thrust to eradicate polio worldwide. Rotary worldwide will raise $50 million per year over the next three years, with every dollar to be matched with two additional dollars from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
In Spring the crocus flowers in the lawns around Clee Hill Community Academy will be a reminder of the school’s contribution to helping rid the world of Polio.
Our thanks to Rotary RotaKids supervisor at Clee Hill, Philippa Kerr for the photographs, and her help in planting the bulbs.
05/12/17.
