Town have teamed up with the Suffolk Stop Smoking Service to launch Kick Free, providing all the help you’ll need to give up smoking. The new quit club is run every Tuesday evening at Portman Road from 6.45 — 8.00pm.
When 47-year-old groundworker Andy Rackham from Ipswich started to wheeze in the mornings he knew it was time to quit smoking. Andy had smoked for more than thirty years but found it hard to quit because all his mates still smoked.
"I had given up once before for six years but one night when I was out having a beer with my mates someone offered me a cigarette and I was hooked again." It was an ad in the back of the matchday programme at a Town game that got him thinking he could quit for good. "It was for Kick Free, the special stop smoking sessions at the football ground. I just thought ‘that’s for me'.
"I really wanted to prove that I could give up smoking. This was somewhere I could go every week and get support to quit - I would never have gone to my GP. What I like about the group is that everyone is in the same boat and understands the problems you are going through. The advisors are not at all judgemental - they really want to help you quit.
"Every week they do this CO monitoring where they can test how much carbon monoxide is in your lungs. When I saw the machine go red that was the kick up the backside I really needed!”
Andy has been quit for almost a year now but still goes back to encourage other smokers to give up. "Sometimes we all have a bit of a kickaround which has helped with the beer belly! I really missed the group when I left but I thought if I came back I could encourage the newer members to quit too.”
"I feel so much fitter now I have finally given up. The wheezing has completely stopped and I have never felt tempted to start smoking again even when I go for a beer after work!”
Kick Free includes Ipswich Town goodies and other unique Portman Road experiences for all successful quitters. Places are limited, so call 0800 085 6037 to book yourself on, while full details are available on the Kick Free website.