AN Eden Valley rotary club member has built an old-fashioned piece of life-saving equipment in an effort to eradicate an often fatal disease.

Rotary International has invested £600million over the last 31 years of trying to wipe out poliomyelitis (polio) across the world, and have seen cases vastly reduce as a result.

Polio is a highly infectious viral disease which mainly affects young children. In the most severe cases it attacks the body's nervous system.

When they started the campaign to end polio in 1985 more than 350,000 children in 125 countries were paralysed by the deadly disease every year. In 2015 there were just 74 cases, all in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Now Roger Frank, a member of the Upper Eden Rotary Club, has spent 650 hours building an iron lung – the machines which were used to help sufferers breathe – from scratch as part of one last push to rid the world of polio once and for all.

"Polio was really rife in the UK in the 40s and 50s, swimming pools were shut because of it and all sorts of things were going on," said Mr Frank, 65, of Raisbeck, near Orton.

"It's a virus and they didn't have a serum developed then and there were lots of cases. People became paralysed and it affected your arms and legs. In a severe case it affected your lungs and you were put in a mechanical respirator (the iron lung) which did the breathing for you."

After unsuccessful attempts to borrow an iron lung from museums displays and hospitals, Mr Frank decided to build one himself, scouring the country for components to put it together.

He now takes it to various events to highlight the importance of continuing the fight against the illness.

"It's horrific to think this is what went on," he said. "People often spent years or the rest of their life in these things not being able to scratch their nose – and people have forgotten about it. It shouldn't be forgotten.

"I want to try and educate people and make them aware polio is still about in the world and to try and eradicate it."