Grandmother Angela Howarth, 58, a service driver from Wrexham, gave up smoking nine years ago, having smoked since the age of 13. She told ASH Wales about the effect smoking had on her life and how she quit:

I was 13 when I first started smoking on the way to school. It was peer pressure at the time really. I ended up smoking around 20 to 25 cigarettes a day until I was 49.

When I was a smoker, cigarettes ruled my life. If I knew I had to go to a place where I couldn’t smoke I would avoid going. For instance, I’d have a real problem going on public transport.  If I had to go to Manchester on the train I’d put it off because I knew I wouldn’t be able to smoke. I look back on that now and think that’s really bad.

I found that cigarettes slow you down. While I was smoking I didn’t have the energy I have now. I felt lethargic and it also affected my moods. People say they smoke because they feel stressed. But in fact it’s the cigarettes themselves that make you feel stressed because of the cravings.  Then there’s the amount of money you spend on cigarettes. Nowadays they are so expensive I don’t think I could afford to smoke.

I had used patches in the past to try to quit but they made my skin itch so didn’t work for me. Then one day I went into a bookshop and saw the Allen Carr Easy Way to Stop Smoking book and it was reduced to £2. People used to joke that I never have change on me because I usually only use a bank card. But that day I just happened to have £2 in my pocket. I thought ‘Ok I’m going to give myself a kick up the backside and give it a try’.

For me it was a miracle cure really. You’re allowed to smoke all the way through while you’re reading it then once you’ve finished you smoke your last cigarette and that’s that. I’ve never hankered after a cigarette since and there was nobody I knew that was more addicted to smoking than me. I used to think ‘once a smoker, always a smoker’ but now I know that’s not the case.

I’ve persuaded lots of people around me to give up smoking using the same method. My only regret now is that I didn’t try it sooner.