(Image: Submitted)
TO mark World Polio Day, Skipton's town hall and parish church will be lit in purple.
Both Skipton Town Hall and Holy Trinity Church will be illuminated in the colour on Saturday, October 24, to highlight Rotary International's global campaign to eradicate polio.
This initiative aims to draw attention to a disease that once affected millions of children annually.
The choice of purple stems from a practice in mass polio-immunisation campaigns, where a child's little finger is marked with indelible purple dye after receiving the oral vaccine.
This "purple pinkie" system indicates which children have been vaccinated, preventing them from being missed or vaccinated twice.
Since Rotary's "End Polio Now" campaign began in 1985, global polio cases have plummeted by more than 99 per cent.
Now, cases are only reported in a few countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland has incorporated purple into the Purple4Polio campaign to raise public awareness and funds for the final push against the disease.
Donations can be made to the Skipton Rotary Trust Fund, account number 53231449, sort code 01-07-93, marked 'Polio'.
All contributions will be matched by Bill Gates's foundation, effectively doubling their impact.