Members of Kingston’s Rotary Club have marked the 105th anniversary of Rotary by raising money to eradicate polio from the world.

Rotarians braved the wet weather and greeted shoppers on Eden’s Walk to raise awareness of the disease and Rotary’s support for the large-scale vaccination program End Polio Now.

The scheme has so far protected over two billion children in 122 countries – leaving just four countries still at risk.

Chairman of the Club’s fundraising committee, Brian Strickland said: “If a child gets polio it can be life-threatening and it can lead to life-long disabilities.

Polio can be a life sentence. In some of the poorer countries such as India, people with disabilities are often cast outside of society.”

Thanks to a mass immunization programme in the 1950s and 1960s, polio – like smallpox – became a disease of the past in the UK and Western Europe. But there are fears it could return.

Mayor of Kingston, Ian McDonald, who joined the Rotary’s fundraising effort said: “Because we haven’t eradicated polio worldwide and as there is a greater ease of access to countries, unless we eliminate it, it will come back to the developed world.

“If local population get behind us, give Rotary the support they need to fund the eradication, we can all benefit.

“If we fail to do that then it will be our children who will suffer in future years.”

On the day, Kingston Rotary Club raised £708 and its sister club in Mew Malden secured £548. The cost to administer treatment to each child is 50p.

President of Kingston Rotary Club, Pauline Colley said: “Not only did we raise money to enable the inoculation of 2,834 children, probably saving them from death or living a life disabled but we also raised awareness of polio.

“The young man who thought polio was a game played on horse-back now knows differently.”

Rotary’s End Polio Now campaign has been supported by Microsoft magnate Bill Gates who has pledged £236 million through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Strickland said: “Rotarians in the UK and across the world are fundraising to match that donation to complete the work.”

To donate towards the End Polio Now campaign or for more information, please go to www.kingstonrotaryclub.co.uk