Thousands of purple crocuses planted in Queen’s Park

The team planting crocus corms

Thousands of purple crocuses were planted in Queen’s Park, Heywood on Sunday morning (21 October).

Joining thousands of Rotary clubs around the world in marking World Polio Day on Wednesday (24 October), Rotary Club of Heywood were joined by Mayor Mohammed Zaman and other friends of the group to plant 5,000 crocus corms in the park.

Rotarian and councillor, Peter Rush said: “This event is in tribute to polio eradication, which over many years thankfully, has decreased throughout the world.

“One of the countries still being treated for polio is Pakistan: a member of the Mayor’s family informed us they work in a hospital treating this condition.

“We are celebrating this event in polio week throughout the world.”

Across the country, almost 2.5 million purple crocuses will be planted around World Polio Day, adding to the millions planted in recent years, which will bloom into a carpet of purple next spring.

The purple crocus has become a symbol of Rotary’s fight to end polio, as the colour purple represents the colour of the dye placed on a child’s finger to show they have been immunised against the disease.

World Polio Day was established by Rotary International over a decade ago to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis.