Green-fingered members of the Basildon Concord Rotary Club have planted 500 purple crocus bulbs as part of a campaign to raise awareness of polio.

Kate Gregory, Brian Wellman, Brian Beaumont, club president Alison Messham and Danny Lovey planted the bulbs under a sign approaching the Basildon Hospital campus as part of the Rotary's campaign Purple4Polio to eradicate the disease.

Thanks to the Rotary clubs around the country, the number of polio-endemic countries across the globe has dropped from 125 to just two, with over 2.5 billion children receiving vaccinations.

The purple crocus is a symbol of the club's campaign, with its colour representing the purple dye used to mark the finger of a child who has been immunised.

Visit rotary-ribi.org/clubs/homepage.php?ClubID=1388