Gravesend Clock Tower will be among thousands of buildings shining purple from sunset to midnight on World Polio Day, Saturday, October, 24.

Although polio now seems a distant memory in the UK, children are still routinely vaccinated against it, and Gravesend Rotary is supporting the global campaign to wipe out the disease.

The clock tower will be illuminated using its unique floodlighting scheme, as buildings all across the world turn purple - which is the colour of the ink marking the little finger of every child receiving the polio vaccine drops in the End Polio Now campaign.

Thanks to Rotary, and the support of partners WHO, Unicef, CDC and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, there are now just two countries still classed as endemic: Pakistan and Afghanistan.

There have been less than 80 cases so far this year.

Gravesend Rotary President Brian Portway highlighted that the countries might seem distant but Covid has shown it could arrive back.

“The End Polio laboratories and teams world-wide have been switched to reporting on and battling Covid but are now coming back to giving those vital drops to each child.

“Over two billion doses of oral polio vaccine have to be administered each and every year in over 60 countries to hold that line.”

Gravesend Rotary has also helped fund the campaign by buying 4,000 purple crocus bulbs to be planted in Woodlands Park this month.

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