WITH No Smoking Day 2008 taking place on Wednesday, the NHS Smokefree campaign is encouraging smokers to get sponsored to go smokefree.

Any smoker who wants to quit and earn money for their favourite charity can sign up to www.justgiving.com/smokefree. The website gets smokers to commit to a date by which they will have quit cigarettes.

Smokers wishing to go smokefree can raise money for any one of Justgiving's 2,000 member organisations. People registering on the site make their own personalised webpage, where friends and family can go to sponsor them as they beat their habits for good.

Quitters also receive information about the free NHS support services, such as the local NHS Stop Smoking Services and the interactive Together programme, all of which are available to smokers to help them to get off cigarettes.

Linda Warwick, a smoker who successfully quit using the site said: "Raising money for charity and seeing the support of my friends and family has given me the extra motivation to finally beat my addiction to cigarettes.

"A lot of smokers try and quit smoking as a New Year's resolution but I think that getting sponsored to quit for No Smoking Day is even better. It's great that you can do something really positive for your health while also raising money for a charity which is important."

Paul Hooper, regional tobacco policy manager for the Department of Health in the West Midlands, said: "No Smoking Day is all about helping people who want to stop smoking to do just that.

"For some smokers, the thought of benefiting others by their actions will provide an extra incentive to keep going and become smoke free for life."

For more information about the campaign or to sign up to raise money by quitting, visit www.justgiving.com/smokefree.

For more information about the free NHS support available to go smokefree, including a free DVD, visit www.nhs.uk/gosmokefree or call 0800 917 6699.

There is plenty going on for No Smoking Day in the West Midlands. To find out more about what is going on across the region, visit http://www.nosmokingday.org.uk/php/eventssearch.php?status=displayarea&areaid=8 for more information on West Midland events.