The Rotary of Club of Ramsey are hoping to add a splash of purple colour to the Courthouse Grounds in Ramsey as part of the Rotary International’s Big Bulb Plant in conjunction with Thanks for Life. The Club will be selling and planting crocus bulbs as part of a campaign which will see hundreds of volunteers get local communities involved with planting crocuses and raising funds to help End Polio Now. The Purple Giant crocuses will not only brighten up the environment, when they bloom in February it will be at the climax of Rotary Thanks for Life campaign which seeks to eradicate polio throughout the world. Since 1985, Rotarians across the whole world have been raising funds, raising awareness and helping administer the polio vaccine in endemic countries. Millions of young children have been spared from the curse of this crippling and potentially fatal disease thanks to the hard work of Rotary members working alongside Unicef, WHO and other health organisations. Once, there were 129 endemic countries with 350,000 children being infected every year. Now, 25 years on, there are only 4 endemic countries and new cases have declined to around 1,000 per year. The purple colour is symbolic of the dye used to mark a child's little finger once they have been protected from the disease. The Club will be at the Courthouse from 10am on Saturday 16th October. 'Rotary Day - Thanks for Life', a project involving the clubs and members of Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland (RIBI), to highlight the humanitarian work of Rotarians with a number one aim of helping to eradicate polio throughout the world. As well as raising awareness, the first phase of the project, in the 12 months to April 2010, raised over ?1 million, involved thousands of schools around the country and most of the 1,850 Rotary clubs across RIBI. An amazing start! The second phase of the project aims to build on that success - it will culminate in thousands of events and activities on and around Rotary Day - February 23rd 2011. Ends