Crocus brooches will be on sale tomorrow at Westwood Cross shopping centre as part of a worldwide fight against polio.

The Rotary Club of Margate are marking the day for the End Polio Now worldwide appeal with a stand at the Broadstairs centre from 10am to 4pm.

On display will be a child’s size iron lung, a machine that was used in the 1950s to enable patients with polio to breathe.

Rotary will be asking for £1 donations for crocus brooches. The flower represents the dye that is used around the world to identify children that have been vaccinated. The little finger is dipped in a pot of dye as an effective way or ensuring every child is vaccinated when they attend vaccination centres in the less developed world.

The international Rotary battle against polio started in 1985 when 350,000 cases were reported annually in 120 countries.

Today, there are 400 reported cases in the last three countries to which the disease is endemic.

India has been polio-free for the last three years, having been declared officially clear on February 11 2014.

Donations at Westwood Cross will be doubled by the Bill Gates Foundation set up by the founder of Microsoft.