This year marks the 40th year of No Smoking Day. A national awareness campaign which is intended to help smokers who want to quit, show support to those who are already on their quitting journey and celebrate those who have successfully quit. As part of this year’s campaign, ASH Wales held an open event in Welsh Parliament in Cardiff.
Pictured above with Lliswery High School Pupils, from left to right: Dr Altaf Hussein MS, John Griffiths MS, chair of the CPG on Smoking and Health, David Rees MS, Huw Irranca-Davies MS.
ASH Wales invited Lliswerry High School (Newport), Llangatwg Community School (Neath), and Radyr Comprehensive School (Cardiff) to join the event to hear more about the work Wales has done and been an integral part of in fighting tobacco addiction in Welsh communities. As well as the well-known health harms of smoking, the students learnt more about the environmental impact of cigarettes and how they harm our oceans and wildlife.
Further to this, for No Smoking Day 2024 ASH Wales placed the spotlight on Denise (66) from Splott, Cardiff to tell her story; quitting after smoking 40 a day for over 50 years. Denise was able to join the event, now 12 months completely smokefree, and provide the students with further insight into how the addiction impacted her everyday life, physical health, mental health as well as her finances. The Smokefree champion admitted there are moments of temptation, but they are quickly followed by reminders of her hard work and the benefits of her smokefree life. The students applauded her and so did the Senedd Members who joined us.
Pictured with Llangatwg Community School pupils, from left to right: John Griffiths MS, Denise Jenkins, Mike Hedges MS.
Welsh politicians spoke to the students about the importance of their health and wellbeing, listened to what they had to say and how they felt smoking impacted their communities. The politicians happily took photographs with the pupils and answered some quiz questions they had prepared on the topic of smoking.
ASH Wales were delighted to be able to provide the students with the opportunity to delve into the political environment and gain experience of campaigning for the health of Welsh communities, as well as meet with Members of the Senedd to discuss how we can move forward to our goal of Smokefree 2030 in Wales.
You can watch Denise’s story HERE.
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