Corrie’s Samia joins anti-smoking fight in Western Cheshire

Jan 6 2011 Chester Chronicle

CORONATION Street star Samia Smith is supporting an anti-smoking initiative backed by Western Cheshire NHS.

Samia, who plays Maria Connor in the soap, launched ‘Quit For Quids’ to highlight the money people could save if they kick the habit.

With an average packet of cigarettes costing more than £6, a regular smoker could save £186 in a month.

Samia was keen to support the campaign after her father, who was a smoker, tragically passed away from cancer of the oesophagus last year.

The actress has also enlisted the support of her mum, Patsy, who has pledged to try to quit smoking.

Patsy, who has smoked on average 10 a day for more than 20 years, visited her local NHS Stop Smoking Service and began her Smokefree journey.

Samia said: “I’ve grown up seeing the effects of smoking on my dad’s health and I know what it’s like to lose a family member to a smoking-related disease.”

Julie Webster, Interim Director of Public Health for Western Cheshire NHS, said: “With 530 people a year in Western Cheshire dying from a smoking-related illness, and an estimated one in four people in western Cheshire still smoking, it is important that tackling tobacco remains a key priority.”

To contact stop smoking services in Western Cheshire, phone 0800 043 5134 or visit www.quit4good.org.