Winning quitters VIPs at Rochdale AFC

A man and woman who were prepared to quit smoking just to get their hands on VIP tickets to see Rochdale AFC play Darlington on Saturday 10 March will be watching the match from the comfort of the Executive Suite.

The two winners, James Bartholemew and Anna Bradley are this Saturday’s special guests at Spotland Stadium along with Match Sponsors T.A.S.K Stop Smoking Service.

TASK Stop Smoking Service started the competition last year in which anyone who had set a quit date before the 12th January 2007 with an appropriate health professional and had still quit at their 4 week monitoring stage had their name entered into a prize draw.

James was a smoker for over 50 years, smoking in excess of 20 cigarettes a day. Having retired, things began to go wrong for James and upon seeing an advert in his local pharmacy, the Junction Pharmacy on Grimshaw Lane in Middleton, he decided to seek help and try to stop smoking. He spoke to Mohammad Alam (affectionately known as ‘Mo’) at the pharmacy and with Mo’s help, James undertook the huge task of trying to quit. James has found quitting a very difficult task and finds every day a struggle. However, he has stuck with it and feels that the help of both the Stop Smoking Service and Mo, he can keep going. He feels much better healthwise and he can now even enjoy a game of cricket with his grandson.

Anna works at Rochdale Infirmary which recently has become a smoke free site for both staff and patients.  ‘T.A.S.K.’ set up a drop in clinic to support the staff and patients at the Infirmary and Anna decided to access this clinic for support to quit smoking. This drop-in clinic is held every Thursday morning from 10am -1pm, at the A amp; E department, Rochdale Infirmary. She spoke to Islam the Specialist Advisor and with his help she was able to quit. She found the service brilliant and managed a month without smoking at all. She has since slipped a little bit but finds that she doesn’t enjoy smoking the way she did and is determined to kick the habit.  She intends to return to the clinic for further support with Islam, and hopefully will manage a successful quit attempt this time around.  Many people do quit and then return to smoking, but do eventually manage to ‘kick the habit’ for good.  Anna has found it very difficult to give up but will keep trying.

Supporters are reminded of the ‘T.A.S.K.’ Stop Smoking Service telephone number which is displayed pitch side at Spotland Stadium.

Hopefully this will stir more people to take that first step and give T.A.S.K a call for more information on how to quit smoking.

Rochdale AFC will be congratulating both James and Anna for their efforts so far on the pitch at half time and the club hope that other people will use the ‘T.A.S.K.’ Stop Smoking Service to try and help kick the habit themselves.

With the help and support of Rochdale AFC T.A.S.K, Stop Smoking Service hope to encourage more people to quit smoking for good with local players leading by example and promoting the QUIT amp; B FIT message.

Also Hannah Yeomans from Littleborough Community Primary School has won a competition run by the ‘T.A.S.K.’ Stop Smoking Service to design a poster that reflects the importance of living in a smoke-free environment. Her poster, along with the runner-up and third prize posters will be on display in the Spotland Stadium foyer, and will then be shown in a mini exhibition in the Wheatsheaf Library, Rochdale along with all the other entries to the competition. As first prize winner Hannah also won free tickets to Saturday’s match and will be presented with a framed signed football shirt and a framed copy of her winning poster.