Last week saw the Rotary Club of Saundersfoot successfully complete the tasks it had set itself to highlight this important event in their yearly calendar, writes Brian Jenkins, President of the Club.

Crocuses were planted in the shape of a Rotary Wheel in the Sensory Garden, three local Primary Schools within the area and within the grounds of the Regency Hall.

We look forward to Spring when the crocuses flower and the community and children can enjoy them and remember the hard but enjoyable work when planting them.

As well as planting the crocuses pupils were given small tubes of purple sweets, donated by Chobbles sweetshop, to remind them of the children abroad who had their ‘pinky’ finger coloured purple as they received their medication.

This helps the medical teams identify which child had been given the anti polio vaccine so avoiding missing a child or giving a double dose.

Support Polio Eradication labels were also given to children and adults to wear to show their approval and support for this world wide campaign.

Rotary display boards were shown to children and a talk was given explaining more about this terrible disease and the effect Poliomyelitis can have on children who are not given the vaccine.

The talk was not all ‘doom and gloom’ but mentioned the great work done by individuals to help the fight against Polio.

People such as Ade Adepitan, himself crippled by the Polio as a child in Nigeria who through courage and determination gives talks about the disease when visiting various countries, and remarkably has won Paralympic medals for his country playing wheelchair basketball. Such a great inspiration to the younger generation.

The multimillionaires Bill Gates and his wife Melissa contribute £2 for every £1 raised through Rotary Charities to eradicate polio and have been doing this for years through the Gates Foundation.

On October 22 Saundersfoot Rotary put on a Showcase in the Regency Hall to make the public aware of the efforts to eradicate polio and give them the opportunity to make donations to help the cause.

In all £106 was raised on the day which with the Gates Foundation contribution amounts to £318. Our thanks to the Regency Hall for their support in this venture.

On World Polio Day October 24, Rotary and its Global Polio Eradication Initiative partners announced that wild poliovirus type 3 (WPV3) has been eradicated worldwide.

WPV3 is only the third infectious human disease-causing pathogen to be eradicated in history, following smallpox and wild poliovirus type 2.

This achievement means that two of the three wild polio strains have now been wiped out, an important marker of progress against the disease.

This announcement comes on the heels of recent news that Nigeria has gone three years without a case of wild poliovirus, which means that the entire African region could be certified wild poliovirus-free in 2020.

Like many other Rotary Clubs in Wales, we chose to light up buildings in purple colours to further advertise World Polio Eradication day. Again thanks to the Regency Hall for floodlghting their stage within the hall.

The Harbourmasters room above their offices was also coloured with purple lights and our thanks go to them for their co-operation, not only in this exercise, but for all the other times they help us raise funds as a chartable organisation.

Many individual people helped, too many to mention by name but our gratitude also goes out to each and everyone.

For further information about Rotary or membership, please contact Brian Waters 01834 813665 or see our busy Facebook page.