Impressive display of 62,000 crocuses stuns passers-by in West Sussex town

Spring each year sees a purple carpet of crocus blooming in many communities across Britain – including at Munster Green in Haywards Heath – as part of a campaign by Rotary International and the World Health Organisation to eradicate polio across the world.

Members of Haywards Heath Rotary, along with the charity It’s Magic, planted the Munster Green purple-flowering bulbs back in 2013 to highlight the fundraising campaign.

The crocuses symbolise how when a child receives life-saving polio drops, their little finger is painted with a purple dye so it is clear they have received their polio vaccine.

Rotary’s pledge for a polio free world was made in 1985 when there were 125 polio endemic countries and hundreds of new cases every day. In the past few years, only two countries have reported cases of polio caused by the wild polio virus but, says Rotary: “No child anywhere is safe until every child has been fully vaccinated.”