ROTARY club members are holding a street collection in Northallerton this weekend to help raise money for a campaign to eradicate polio.

Members of the Northallerton Mowbray Rotary Club will be collecting money for the PolioPlus campaign on Northallerton High Street on Saturday.

PolioPlus is supported by hundreds of thousands of Rotarians from Toronto to Tokyo. Collections have so far raised more than £3bn for vacinations that cost about 30p each.

Rotary International launched its immunisation programme 20-years-ago and has driven the disease out of more than 100 countries, though it remains endemic in India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan.

As part of the campaign two billion children have been immunised, five million have been spared from disability and one million deaths have been averted.

Peter Tweddle, president of Northallerton Mowbray Rotary Club, said: "We are collecting to make polio history. This campaign is one of the most worthwhile projects we will ever undertake."