THE seeds of hope were planted by students in a bid to eradicate polio.

Students at Charters School in Sunningdale planted 4,500 crocus bulbs outside the school on October 8 in support of the Thanks For Life campaign which aims to raise awareness of polio around the world and to rid it from countries that still suffer from the disease.

The bulbs were donated by the Rotary Club of Ascot and members of the club including president Beverley Williams attended and presented a plaque to the year 10 BTEC vocational studies course who were planting the bulbs in a design that they had come up with.

Tony Love, Rotary Club chairman for the community and vocational group, said: “I was very impressed with the enthusiasm and commitment shown by students involved in the planting of the bulbs. They designed four different patterns for planting themselves and now we all look forward to next February’s flowering.” Rotary clubs around the country have been will be running the Thanks For Life scheme. There are four countries that still report cases of the disease, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Nigeria and in February 2011 rotary clubs will undertake a number of fundraising activities to help pay for the final measures needed to eradicate the disease.