THE Rotary Club of Tavistock was pleased with the results of the recent collections on World Polio Day in the town.

Rotarian Clive Fairchild was delighted with the collections by rotarians in Tavistock, and also by the Bedford Hotel and the Two Bridges Hotel over the past few weeks.

Through the ongoing support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to Rotary International's Polio Project, every £1 contributed will be increased to £3, meaning that an extra £1,600 is now available to help conquer polio.

Rotary International has been working with other agencies since 1979 striving to eradicate polio. The disease kills and paralyses young children, and spreads like wildfire.

There is no cure but it can be easily prevented through immunisation.

In 1979 nearly 350,000 youngsters worldwide were being affected yearly. Thanks to the work of Rotary working with others, there were only some 223 cases recorded worldwide in 2012. These were principally contained in the three endemic countries.

Rotarian Tony Whitehead said: 'Many readers will remember seeing polio damaging lives in this country. We are now so close to eradicating this dreadful disease worldwide.

'Thank you Tavistock for your support.'