NEWS chief reporter Steve Sowden has received a further financial incentive to stay clear of the dreaded cigarettes.

Steve has now gone more than a month since quitting the habit on January 9 and was quickly given some extra pressure to succeed when Ilminster Lions said they would sponsor him £1 a day for charity to stay cigarette-free for a year.

The Lions said they would donate £366 to a charity of Steve’s choice if he stayed clear for a year under the proviso that failure to do so would see the sponsorship deal stubbed out.

But now the pledged sponsorship has risen to £466 with Ilton-based company Chudley International offering a further £100.

Steve has already said he intends to donate the money to South Somerset-based charity, the Piers Simon Appeal, which helps to support areas hit by natural disaster around the globe, which was launched following the death of former Yeovil College student Piers in the Asian tsunami of 2004.

Chudley International, on the Ilton Business Park, has been acting as shipping partner for the Piers Simon Appeal and only recently transported education aid to children in a poverty-ravaged area of Sierra Leone in West Africa.

And, when sales manager Adam Chudley, himself an ex-smoker, heard of Steve’s challenge – he felt he had to give his backing.

He said: “We’d like to donate another 25p a day for the year and if Steve makes it a full 12 months we’ll top it up that extra bit to £100.”

Steve said: “I’m amazed that me giving up the fags could, all being well, raise £466 for charity. I’d like to thank Adam for his pledge of support.”

You can read about Steve’s campaign to give up the cigarettes in his blog on our website at chardandilminsternews .co.uk which is updated regularly.