ANYONE going up or down Castle Street will have seen the colourful array of purple crocuses planted by Farnham Weyside Rotary Club.

These flowers represent the worldwide Rotary campaign to eliminate polio from the face of the earth.

The scheme was devised in conjunction with the Royal Horticultural Society and across the whole of Britain, from Scotland to the Channel Isles.

More than seven million crocuses have been planted. The purple flower was chosen because a purple dye is used to mark the little finger of each child immunised in the campaign around the world.

Twenty-five years ago, polio struck 350,000 children every year. There were only 74 cases in 2015, but the campaign has to work even harder to eliminate the disease completely.

For every £1 raised by Rotary, the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation add another £1.

For more information about the campaign and Farnham Weyside Rotary Club, see the website www.farnhamweyside.org.uk, or contact the club secretary, John Cattell, on 01252 715048, or by sending an email to [email protected].