'National No Smoking Day', March 11

🚭 No Smoking Day & CST Song Of The Day

No Smoking Day is marked each year in the UK on the second Wednesday in March. The day encourages people to think about the benefits of stopping smoking and to support those who are trying to quit. Since it began in 1984, the campaign has helped raise awareness about the health risks of smoking and promoted the many positive changes people experience when they stop — better breathing, improved heart health, more energy, and saving money. It is also a good opportunity for friends, families, and communities to encourage and support anyone who wants to become smoke-free.

🎵 CST Song Of The Day – “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” by The Platters

Today’s song links playfully with the theme of the day. “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” is a beautiful romantic ballad originally written for a 1933 Broadway musical and later became a worldwide hit when recorded by The Platters in 1958. The song’s dreamy harmonies and emotional lyrics made it one of the group’s signature recordings and a classic of the golden age of vocal harmony.

For CST (Cognitive Stimulation Therapy) sessions, the song can spark discussion and memories. People might talk about:

• When and where they first heard the song

• Dance halls and romantic slow dances in the 1950s

• How attitudes to smoking have changed over the years

It’s a nostalgic song that many people recognise — and today it also offers a gentle reminder of No Smoking Day. 🚭🎶

Here are some discussion points ...

• Who used to smoke? Who still does? Who changed over to vaping?

• What cigarette and cigar brands do you remember?

• Who remembers collecting cards from cigarette packets, aimed at children?

• Even worse, who remembers eating sweet cigarettes?

One of the most important changes came on 1 July 2007, when smoking was banned in enclosed public places and workplaces in England, including pubs, restaurants, clubs and offices (similar laws had already begun in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). The aim was to protect people from second-hand smoke and to encourage more people to give up smoking.

Since these laws were introduced, smoking rates have steadily fallen. There are now millions fewer smokers than in 2007, and overall smoking prevalence in Great Britain has dropped significantly over the years.

This decline in smoking has had a major impact on health. Smoking is still the biggest cause of lung cancer, responsible for most cases, but as fewer people smoke, lung cancer death rates have gradually fallen. Over the past 40 years, hundreds of thousands of lung-cancer deaths have been prevented, largely because fewer people smoke and more people quit.

Here are some other fire and smoke related songs if you wanted to carry on the session with some music related reminiscence , singalongs and dancing.