TAVISTOCK Rotary Club has been raising funds to help eradicate polio worldwide for nearly three decades and on Monday, April 29 the club will be sponsoring a talk by Polio expert Gareth Williams (pictured right), Professor of Medicine at Bristol University.

Professor Williams will be speaking at Tavistock Wharf Arts Centre about his new book 'Paralysed with Fear: the Story of Polio' an original view of the journey to understanding and defeating polio. The book will be published in early June by Palgrave Macmillan.

During his talk Professor Williams will be paying tribute to the work of Rotary, which has been involved in the polio eradication programme since 1985, both fundraising and helping with immunisation in countries where polio is still endemic.

Working alongside the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary International has already raised more than $200m for this campaign and the work is continuing.

Professor Williams' talk will be in the afternoon and later that evening he will be swopping his lab coat for a flute when he joins four other jazz loving doctors in the Park Row Five for a Jazz Supper at the Bedford Hotel.

The talk and jazz evening are part of the Tavistock Music & Arts Festival which is running in venues around the town until May 6. 

The talk will be taking place at 2pm at The Wharf. 

Tickets are £3 at the door with a collection for the End Polio Now campaign.

The Jazz Supper starts at 7.30pm at Gallery 26, Bedford Hotel, Tavistock. 

Tickets in advance are £12.50 from the Bedford Hotel.