She is the best - with a pest - in her own words, but she is also quite remarkable female pioneer.

She is one of the few female pest control officers in the UK - before that she was the UK's first female retoucher, working at famous Paulton printing plant - now closed but for those with good memories, the scene of angry strikes when the notorious Robert Maxwell took control.

So just how did Deana Jamieson, who lives in Charlton, get into pest control?

She said: " It was a random conversation with good friends. She said her husband was looking to semi retire and in chatting about his work I said "Oh, I've always been good at catching moles!" and she joked "You should become his apprentice" Later that day at home it suddenly occurred to me 'Why not!"

"Having lost someone very special to me at a relatively early age I've begin to realise that life is too short! You have to grab every opportunity. I was ready to try something different instead of being sat at a desk eight hours a day."

Deana was one of the first women to be taken on at Purnells of Paulton as a retoucher make up artist in 1977. This involved producing the origination film for magazines prior to print all work done manually, nowadays by computer.

Deana remembers: " I used to love doing the Peanuts cartoon in the Radio Times. I would be given the black and white drawing and certain things had to be set colours, Charlie Brown's jumper, Snoopy's kennel etc but after that I chose the colour of everything else."

She is still a dog fan, but Deana was ready for a change of career and after several years of training she qualified to a National Standard - RSPH Level2 Award in Pest Management and finally started her own business last year.

She said: " There is never a dull moment as a pest controller. On a daily basis I get to meet a variety of lovely people from all walks of life. A mouse doesn't know if it has made a home in a beautiful miner's cottage, a modern flat or a multi million pound country mansion. I get to see them all."

"Wasps! Some people are happy to live with a wasp nest around but once you've been stung most people want them removed. The season for wasps is getting longer. An early mild spring leading straight into summer means lots of queens survive and wake up and start to build their nests in trees, bushes, the ground, our attics, almost anywhere. By the end of the season these can be immense. Our mild autumns mean this can be well into late September or early October before the first hard frosts kills off all in the nest except the queen who then flys off and overwinters ready to start again next year...... and so we've gone full circle."