VISITORS to Alloa’s Wimpy Park in spring will be treated to a gorgeous array of purple crocuses thanks to a long day of planting by local schools and community groups.

Schools teamed up with the Rotary Club of Alloa to plant 4,000 crocuses for the group’s Purple for Polio campaign.

Purple is the colour of Rotary’s campaign to end polio in the world with only two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, still blighted by the disease.

Explaining why purple was chosen, rotarian Lindsey Spowage, co-ordinator of the event, said: “In developing countries, medical teams have painted the pinkie nail of a child purple to identify they have been vaccinated.

“We could not have achieved the planting of 4,000 crocuses in just one day without the help of Park PS, St Mungo’s PS, Lochies School and Alloa Academy.”

Lindsey continued: “We had a visit from Barry Fisher, chief executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, who was very impressed by the work of the Lochies learners, who had pre-potted their crocuses – one for each of the 37 local children who attend the school.

“Wimpy Park have become great friends of Rotary since we got together during the recent Beechgrove Garden filming, and we are so grateful for them providing this opportunity to raise awareness of our Polio Campaign.

“Hopefully, the young people are also now fully aware of the huge benefits vaccination has brought to the world.”

Barry Fisher, CEO of Keep Scotland Beautiful, added: “I was delighted to have been invited by Alloa Rotary to the planting of purple crocuses as part of their Polio campaign.

“It was great to meet with young people who have been involved in the planting programme and also to hear from Rotarians about the range of projects that they are involved with to improve the environment.”

Visit rotary-ribi.org/clubs/homepage.php?ClubID=8 or search Rotary Club of Alloa on Facebook to keep up to date with the group’s work.