Pauline Beasley's smoke free pledge is a winner

Pauline Beasley is presented with her voucher by Lisa Barker (left) and Jacqui Evans (right) from the council's Public Protection Team

Pauline Beasley, from Rochdale, has won first prize in a smoke free competition.

In January 2014 Pauline signed the council's Smoke Free Pledge - a promise to keep her house and car totally smoke free at all times. This month she completed a questionnaire helping the council to assess the success of the scheme so far and was drawn out of the hat to win a £25 Argos voucher.

Pauline, a former teaching assistant who now works at Tesco Extra in Middleton, quit smoking ten years ago, she said: “As well as all the money saved on cigarettes, I don’t need to redecorate the house as often, and it’s obviously massively improved the air quality for my family and pets. I’m really pleased I took the decision to stop and to sign the pledge.

"It’s important to get the smoke free message out, especially to young people and if we can persuade just a few more people to stop then it’s worth it.”

Councillor Cecile Biant, Cabinet Member for Public Health, said: “This pledge isn’t just about someone stopping smoking, it means completely removing smoke from your home and car by not allowing others to smoke either.

"Being in a smoky atmosphere puts the body under pressure and causes long term damage to vital organs.

"When smoke disappears into the air it quickly spreads to other rooms in the house and is absorbed into furnishings, but my becoming smoke free you feel the benefits quickly.”