Quirky cars of the Rotary Grand Tour to roll into Halifax

Car enthusiasts have embarked on an epic road trip around the UK on the 21st of May in a bid to raise thousands of pounds for End Polio Now.
Cars taking part in the Rotary charity driveCars taking part in the Rotary charity drive
Cars taking part in the Rotary charity drive

Around 50 cars and their teams are supporting the Rotary campaign to fund and administer polio vaccines as well as invest in research.

The four day tour finishes at Halifax Minster on Thursday. The town was chosen to host the finish because it is the geographic centre of Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland.

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Teams are visiting the various Rotary run checkpoints at exciting venues across the country including the Brands Hatch circuit, the Forth Road Bridge, the Monnow Bridge and many other places of interest.

Cars taking part in the Rotary charity driveCars taking part in the Rotary charity drive
Cars taking part in the Rotary charity drive

In Halifax, the teams will be ending the tour at the Halifax Minster which is being hosted by The Rotary Club of Halifax where they will also meet the public as well as explain why they are helping drive out polio.

The Minster will welcome the drivers with the traditional waving of a chequered flag and the vehicles will then be parked up in the grounds for spectators to view and meet the drivers.

This will be followed by a presentation in the Minster itself, where afternoon tea will be available.

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The tour is not a race or competition of any kind. It is just a road trip whereby teams are raising sponsorship for End Polio Now. All the entrants are creating their own route and finding accommodation which adds to the adventure.

The Secretary of the Halifax Rotary Club and Service Above Self-Award winner Ken Robertshaw said: “We are thrilled to welcome the Purple4Polio Rotary Grand Tour to our town.

"The Rotary Club of Halifax have supported the drive to rid the world of Polio since it was first proposed by Rotary International in 1987.

"Then there were over 1000 cases of this terrible disease being recorded every day, in the whole of 2017 there were 22 and this year the figure is five to date.”

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Rotary were the initiators of the programme which has since been taken up by the World Health Organisation and government agencies.

In recent years the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also joined forces with us by doubling any funds Rotary raises for the programme.

Rotarians from Halifax have raised funds for the programme through a series of events such as bed pushes, sponsored walks and other physical challenges.

The Annual Castle Carr Fountains display has also raised funds.

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Rotarians are also involved in the delivery of vaccines to children in the areas still carrying this disease and have been since the start.

Over one Million children receive the vaccine in a weekend in India alone, a country that is about to be declared totally free of the disease, all administered by rotary volunteers.