A blooming lovely welcome at PRH

27 March 2018

Visitors and staff at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford can expect a blooming lovely welcome over the new few weeks.

Ten thousand crocus bulbs planted by schoolchildren last year have sprung up, creating beautiful swathes of purple either side of the footpaths from the car park down to the main hospital entrance.

The stunning spring walkway was the hard work of pupils and staff from Hadley Learning Community in Telford and members of the Rotary Club of Telford Centre.

The 40 youngsters from Year 7 planted the thousands of bulbs, supplied by the Rotary Club, last October. The aim was to create a sea of purple outside the hospital every spring, with a thicker carpet emerging year after year – and raise awareness of a very important Rotary campaign.

The planting project was part of Rotary International’s Purple4Polio bid to raise awareness of their fight to eradicate polio around the world. Purple is the colour of the dye placed on the little finger on the left hand of a child to show they have been immunised against polio, hence the name Purple4Polio.

This week, the pupils returned to the hospital along with Rotary Club members to see the results for themselves – and also to ‘plant’ signage amongst the blooms to highlight the polio campaign.

Julia Clarke, Director of Corporate Governance at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) which runs PRH, said: “We are very grateful to the children and the Rotary Club of Telford Centre who worked incredibly hard last year to plant so many bulbs.

“The results are fantastic and we now have lovely swathes of purple flowers outside the main hospital entrance. It is a wonderful sight to greet visitors and staff to our hospital, and one that we can look forward to every spring.”

Sonia Roberts, President of the Rotary Club of Telford Centre, said: “The creation of the spring flowering purple crocus walkway in the grounds of Princess Royal Hospital was to benefit both staff and patients, and also highlight the need to continue supporting the drive to eliminate polio once and for all.

“I want to thank all the students who helped us to plant the bulbs – their hard work has well and truly paid off and the results are fantastic.”