Market Harborough's very own lady and the lamp-post lights up her delighted estate

Many of us have heard of Florence Nightingale, the iconic Lady with the Lamp.

Well now you can read all about Annette Teesdale – who is Market Harborough’s very own Lady and the Lamp-Post lighting up her own neighbourhood.

And she’s more than a match for Crimean War nurse Florence’s non-stop industry and relentless energy when it comes to doing her bit for the people of Market Harborough and worldwide during another serious emergency – the Covid pandemic.

For Annette, 58, has been knitting and crocheting a whole string of ingenious creations and displaying them on the lamp-post outside her house since the virus crisis blew up in March 2020.

And as well as entertaining her neighbours on Freshman Way on the Farndon Fields estate she’s been thrilling friends and family around the world by putting up pictures of her star attractions on her fast-growing Instagram account.

“I never thought the whole thing would take off and become so big when I began doing this in March last year!

“I wrapped a scarf around my lamp-post right at the start of this pandemic – and over 18 months later I’m still hard at work day in day out,” said Annette.

“I’ve just put up a dalek and the police box from Doctor Who – which is set to start again on BBC1 on Sunday October 31.

“I’ve put 60 hours of work into making the dalek alone and it’s 3ft high.

“But it’s all worth it to be able to put a smile on people’s faces while the kids love what I do as well.

“I’ve been knitting and crocheting for charity for years.

“That all stopped when the pandemic hit us.

“And this is a huge hobby for me, I just love creating my latest genuine labour of love.

“So I thought well Florence Nightingale was famously known as the Lady with the Lamp – so I’ll become the Lady and the Lamp-Post,” smiled Annette, who also finds the time to do two part-time jobs working at home.

“I’ve created so many amazing figures and models over the last year and a half.

“I’ve done a Scottish bagpiper for Hogmanay, a red and white St George, 24 snowmen for last Christmas, robins, hedgehogs, Christmas stockings, Shaun the sheep, penguins, giraffes and lions and Labradors – and a whole load more.

“I recycle a lot of my material – and my fantastic neighbours help me out with bubble wrap and other stuff.

“They’ve even sent me letters and cards to thank me and tell me how much it means to them.

“The coronavirus pandemic has been such a difficult time for all of us.

“So I’ll continue to do what I can to give people here on Farndon Fields a bit of fun and some joy and make them laugh.

“It gives me so much satisfaction and fulfilment to do that,” said Annette.

“And thanks to Instagram my friends and relatives as far away as New Zealand and Germany can enjoy all that I wrap our local lamp-post on Freshman Way too!”

You can have a closer look at Annette’s many splendid works of art at www.instagram.com/ladyandthelamppost