The heritage steam train that runs from Grosmont to Pickering, in the North York Moors, was stalling Fiona Duncan’s busy morning. It was a few days before Christmas, back in 2018, and Duncan was dashing around Grosmont town centre, picking up last-minute essentials.
“I was slightly cursing the gates being closed,” she says. “But then all these guys sauntered up and casually formed a line along the level-crossing barrier.”
The Santas, Duncan realised, were doing the Gallon Walk, a pub crawl along a seven- to eight-mile route, from Goathland to Egton. “There are eight pubs en route, hence the name – and their slight disarray! We were all waiting for the level crossing to open, so I could get on with my shopping and they could continue their walk. I just snapped a quick photo on my iPhone X.”
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Duncan is a pet portrait artist and photography consultant. If she were to display this in one of her own exhibitions, she says, she would place it as an “end picture, as the light is almost fading. It’s about friendship, living for the moment and having a laugh. They were all in high spirits, and were certainly spreading Christmas cheer.”
Although, she adds, “They were maybe confusing for small children who would have thought that Santa shouldn’t be out on the razz.”