THE daughter of a Wirral man who died of coronavirus is standing as a candidate in May's local council election.

Nicole Williams is Labour candidate for Moreton West and Saughall Massie on May 6 and will use her campaign to highlight the dangers of using wood burners as heaters.

It will be in tribute to father David Williams, who passed away on March 30 last year.

A much-loved husband, father and grandfather from Bromborough he was in good health, active, and had fought off cancer twice.

The day after the first lockdown started, he was taken ill and an ambulance was called.

The paramedic confirmed Covid-19 and advised David should stay at home to fight it, and only dial 999 again if he was struggling to breathe.

In the early days of the pandemic, the very fine, still, weather drew people across the UK out into their gardens. Many cleared winter debris, pruned and set bonfires.

The beautiful weather was due to a high-pressure zone over UK, but there was no breeze to dissipate the garden smoke, so the air began to fill with particles from fires.

Nicole and daughter Camille had the virus a couple of weeks earlier and their breathing was not yet back to normal. They live in a home backing onto allotments and bonfires had been burning on the allotments continuously for five days.

With no breeze, their home and garden had filled up with the deadly smoke. The day after the ambulance was called for David, Camille had a serious crisis with her breathing.

Nicole tried to calm her, instructing her to count during her in and out breaths to try to slow them down, whilst she opened all windows and doors to clear the air.

The crisis over, Nicole decided to do everything she could to stop others suffering from wood smoke.

Nicole said: "I needed to make sure no other families would suffer unnecessarily, as we had.

"The smoky air could be a matter of life or death for someone fighting the virus, or asthma or COPD."

After contacting local councillors it was suggested that Nicole should make an appeal on social media to raise awareness and ask people not to make smoke.

"The appeal went nationwide, but it was too late for my lovely Dad," Nicole said.

"He died at Arrowe Park Hospital around lunchtime on March 30.

"That evening, Wirral Council and Merseyside Fire and Rescue made an appeal across all channels for people to stop making smoke whilst their neighbours could be home fighting off the deadly respiratory virus.

"My child's breathing crisis gave me a small glimpse of the terror that must be experienced all the time by families who are dealing with asthma, COPD and lung cancer.

"I started to read around the subject and I was very concerned by what I found.

"Particle pollution from burning wood doesn't only contribute to respiratory diseases. In 2019 Public Health England reported that there is strong evidence it also causes strokes and coronary heart disease.

"I thought about all the people I know who have been affected by those conditions and that hardened my resolve to do something about it.

"I understand the need to reduce nitrogen dioxide from traffic because it has a massive impact on climate change, but when burning wood in homes and gardens is so very bad for our health, I think the clean air strategies need to include action on that, too.

"Wood-burning stoves, chimineas and fire pits are constantly promoted in TV programmes, so the amount of people using them is increasing every day.

"The ban on wood burners for heating should apply to all properties that are on the National Grid, and therefore have access to alternative forms of heating.

"I've learned a lot through the last year and have been amazed at the response from others across my community, and the whole of the UK, who have reached out to me and shared their stories of suffering from wood smoke and are supporting my campaign.

"I want to sort this out so others don't suffer as we did, so I started to campaign against wood burning as a UK wide issue.

"I would like to use what I have learned from campaigning against wood burning to get this and other matters, resolved, and make lives better for the people in my community."