Rotary event at Cooper Hall enables vaccination of 10,000 children against polio

Morag McLaren’s “Original One Woman Show” with support act Yvonne Lawley, held on 25th May at Cooper Hall, for Rotary’s End Polio Now campaign and to celebrate the 100th year of the Rotary Foundation raised enough to pay for approximately 10,000 polio vaccinations.

The sell-out audience was entertained first by Yvonne’s singing and then enthralled and amused by Morag’s multiple characters and unique interpretations of songs.

Local sculptor Ian Marlow, who exhibits some of his work at Cooper Hall, kindly and generously donated a piece to be raffled, along with a signed copy of the poem he had written which inspired the sculpture.

Hugh Deed, Chairman of the Rotary Foundation for the Frome Selwood Club and MC for the evening said, “The total raised, plus the 2:1 matching funding that will come from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will pay for about 10,000 children to be vaccinated against polio.

“In 1985 Rotary initiated the programme to rid the world of Polio and since then the number of cases has dropped from over 1000 new cases per day across over 100 countries to now when there have been just five cases so far in 2017 in just two countries (Afghanistan and Pakistan). The WHO (World Health Organization) has decided that vaccinations need to continue until there have been no cases for five years to ensure that this dreadful disease cannot come back.

The last reported case was on February 19th . There is, therefore, the real possibility that we will see the last ever case of polio this year. For that to happen in the 100th year of the Rotary Foundation would be truly amazing!”

The Rotary Club of Frome Selwood thanks Cooper Hall, Morag and Yvonne for their support and also the audience for coming!

More information is on the Cooper Hall website and on the Rotary club’s website: fromeselwoodrotary.org.uk.