Isle of Man's Tower of Refuge to be lit in purple

The tower will be lit in purple light on Saturday night

An Isle of Man landmark will be bathed in purple light as part of a campaign to eradicate polio.

The Tower of Refuge will be lit up in recognition of Rotary International's Thanks For Life campaign.

The Rotary Club in Douglas is holding fundraising activities across the Isle of Man over the next seven days.

Purple was chosen because medical teams stain children's little fingers with a purple dye to show they have been immunised.

The campaign is the final push in the club's campaign to remove polio from the four countries where it is prevalent.

'Quite a sight'

Howard Callow is the chairman of club service at the Rotary Club of Douglas.

He said: "Purple is the chosen colour and thanks to the help from the Department of Infrastructure we will see the Tower of Refuge turning purple, which will be quite a sight.

"It's not the first time that important landmarks have been used, as part of a campaign, the Houses of Parliament in Westminster have been used, Table Mountain in South Africa has been used, so the Tower of Refuge is up there with the world's greatest heritage sights."

Over the last 20 years, polio cases have been cut by 99%, and the condition is close to being eradicated.

It is still endemic in Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan.

And it is present in more than 12 countries altogether.