Knitting Lady of Southsea

The News, Portsmouth

70 year old, Wendy Averall is keeping Southsea residents happy by knitting Post box toppers for everyone to see

Transcript

00:00Some people do this post box toppers for charity, I wouldn't know how to collect money for it

00:11so my charity is the fact that I do it and people enjoy walking past and get a thrill

00:19out of seeing what's been done and they appreciate the work that goes into making them and they

00:27tend to respect them as well and they leave them alone.

00:32I'm Wendy Avril, I've lived here since 2017, I used to live in Shropshire but my circumstances

00:41changed so I decided to come and live by my children who live in Portsmouth. I didn't

00:47know anybody so I had to put myself out there to make friends and I've got this little

00:56post box round the corner and the children go past it every day to school at Moorings

01:03Way which is on the corner and I thought I can brighten up their day by doing these

01:09post box toppers which I'd seen in other places and I thought what shall I do so I put my

01:17thinking cap on and something topical and it was coming up to Easter and I thought I'll

01:22do an Easter one so I did Easter bunnies and Easter eggs and chickens and put it on the

01:29post box with intrepidation because I thought I was doing something naughty. So I turned

01:37up at 6 o'clock in the morning and put this topper on and then sat back and waited and

01:43I had so many responses on a Facebook social site about how it's brighten people's day

01:52and how it makes them smile and how the children think it's lovely going to school and passing

01:58this post box topper so I thought okay I'll do some more so I took that one down after

02:06a little while and I put something else up and something else and something else and

02:11it spiralled and I can get 300, 400 responses on Facebook saying thank you for brightening

02:20our day, thank you for making me smile, my little boy loves walking past the post box

02:26and says what's going to be there today mummy? And at Easter I put little Easter eggs out

02:31for the children so they had a little Easter egg on the way to school. I didn't like knitting

02:38as a child, I didn't. It didn't grow fast enough for me. I like to do something and

02:45have a finished product and in 2014 I moved into a bungalow next door to a lady who was

02:55making these clowns and I was taken aback by them, I thought they were fantastic and

03:02because they're little bits and then all together, put all together to make the clown I thought

03:08I'll have a go. I got into making these clowns and I made loads of them and it really made

03:17me turn to knitting and when I saw my first post box topper I thought it's a brilliant

03:23little showcase for a little display and it'll make people smile and make people enjoy the

03:30day, bring a bit of sunshine into a miserable rainy day and I thought I'll have a go and

03:37I'll do that. I had a bit of fun recently doing the Harvest Festival so I was knitting

03:45and crocheting carrots and sweetcorn and peas and tomatoes and so that was quite nice when

03:53that one went off and we did a scarecrow so that that could sit in the middle. So yeah

03:59the Harvest Festival was quite nice. Well I have to think of whatever comes up, I mean

04:06Valentine's Day is another one, Mother's Day is another one, National Book Day for the

04:14children, that's another one, World Book Day I should say, Pet Day, there's lots and lots

04:22of things on the calendar that I can do a post box topper for, I've just got to decide

04:29what I want to do, you know, when the month comes. I tend to do it the month before and

04:35then put it on for a month. I think I'll enjoy doing, I've certainly enjoyed doing

04:42the poppies, I enjoy doing that. I like doing the love and marriage one, I really enjoyed

04:50doing the Harvest Festival. I did Friends on the Beach in the summer because there wasn't

04:57anything special going on so I just did Friends on the Beach and I did little elephants and

05:02pigs and chickens and mice and put them on the beach with sandcastles and things so that

05:08was another one. Whatever is topical I will do a topper for.

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