Children unveil sign telling people not to smoke outside their Portsmouth playground

The sign, which has been placed outside Paulsgrove Adventure Playground and the community centre, includes a no smoking symbol along with warnings about smoking-related illnesses and conditions such as cancer, strokes and lung disease.

Playground member, Ruby Jacobs, 11, said: ‘Smoking is really bad for you and can cause lung cancer and early death. My mum smokes even though I tell her not to. It’s really good to have the sign here to remind people of the dangers and to not smoke outside the playground.’

Courtney Willet, eight, added: ‘It’s important to tell people not to smoke – it’s poisonous and can kill people. My granddad is really poorly because of smoking.’

The winning sign was chosen after design entries from children who attend the six adventure playgrounds across the city.

The winning child, who cannot be named, said: ‘It was really exciting to find out I had won and I will be proud to see my design every day. It was important to put the illnesses on the poster as a reminder to people of the dangers of smoking.’

Health development officer at Portsmouth city council, Marshada Chowdhury, said: ‘The poster is really clear and to the point. It really identifies the health risks.’

The playground’s deputy leader, John Hale, also hopes the sign will reduce the number of parents who gather around the site entrance to smoke.

‘We have a lot of parents who smoke. While there is no smoking in the playground sometimes parents will stand outside and smoke. This is an important message from the children telling them not to and so hopefully it will make a difference,’ he said.

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Joining the children for the unveiling of the sign was Councillor Dave Ashmore, cabinet member for the environment and climate change, and councillor Matthew Winnington, cabinet member for health, wellbeing and social care.

Cllr Winnington said: ‘The poster acts as a reminder of the dangers of passive smoking. While a lot of parents will no longer smoke in their houses I don’t think the message about smoking in public places around children has fully got through.’

Cllr Ashmore added: ‘This is a message from local children and it’s important their views are heard. Hopefully it will help to hit home the dangers of passive smoking.’

The council now hope to run the competition to create signs for its five other adventure playgrounds.