THOUSANDS of crocuses are set to burst into life in Sowerby and Thirsk next spring as part of a celebration into the eradication of polio.

Members of the Thirsk Rotary club dug deep and planted 5,000 crocuses at the entrance to the town in recognition of the Rotary’s international efforts to eradicate the illness.

When Rotary first began supporting the campaign to eradicate polio almost 30-years-ago, there were some 350,000 new cases diagnosed each year.

Thanks to an extensive immunisation programme, with the World Health Organisation, the number of cases has dropped to only 12 reported so far this year.

The purple crocus is the symbol of the campaign because in countries where child health records are incomplete, the child’s little finger is coloured purple temporarily to indicate they have received the vaccine.