It is, of course, a time of year when people reflect on the year and recall times past (well old people do anyway!). So, without downplaying the work being done again today in support of the Santa Specials I will see what I can recall from Christmases in the recent past.
Twelve months ago I have a vision of…….

A hut needing painting. It still does – though we’ve removed the old layers and repaired the ‘skirt’) plus the needle raker-in-chief:

From Christmas 2017
Colleagues, present and former, enjoying a break in surprisingly mild weather and someone missing the barrow path…
And three years ago:
A rare shot of yours truly with Mick Best having just completed the new Klargester fence plus an aerial drop of some paving slabs over an unruly hedge.
Finally, it is a feature of the volunteer workforce that they are, on average, a bit longer in the tooth than most. So it is an all too frequent occurrence that emails from the GWSR in the winter months often start with “We are sad to report…..”. 2019 seems to have been an especially bad year in this regard so let me post a message of :
“Christmas good cheer and a toast to the railway’s absent friends.”
Regards to all for the festive season,
Tim