Falklands veteran Simon Weston will be in Bradford later this month to help start a charity campaign aimed at wiping out polio.

Mr Weston, who suffered horrific burns when the ship he was aboard was bombed by Argentinean planes, will be guest speaker at a Rotary Club gala dinner, to be held in aid of the organisation’s Thanks for Life/End Polio Now appeal.

The campaign aims to eradicate polio from the last remaining four countries in the world where the disease is still endemic.

The event, at Bradford’s Cedar Court Hotel, will see the start of a week-long programme of events, organised by almost all the 80 Rotary clubs in West and North Yorkshire.

Em Lloyd-Davies, the organisation’s district governor, said: “Simon Weston’s bravery following being so severely burned after his ship, the Sir Galahad, was bombed during the Falklands War has been a truly inspirational story and a great personal triumph in the face of seemingly impossible odds.

“We hope that many non-Rotarians will take the opportunity to support the evening and hear what he has to say – while at the same time helping us to eradicate polio.”

After the Falklands campaign, Mr Weston co-founded The Weston Spirit, a charity to help young people play an active role in their own communities.

He has also been the subject of several documentaries and has written two books on his experiences, Walking Tall and Going Back.

Rotary International has been working with the World Health Organisation and UNICEF to immunise children against polio since 1985, when it was endemic in 125 countries.

It is now widespread in just four countries – India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan. The number of reported cases of the disease dropped from 350,000 in 1988 to 1,595 in 2009.

Tickets for the event on February 19, which cost £25 each, are available from Willie Clark on (01274) 531531 or by emailing wc@partline.co.uk.