Listen to the radio version of the story here.
Santa Rick Banks, a proud member of the National Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas, sits before a laptop in the basement of his house in Chichester and adjusts the camera to make sure the Christmas tree behind him can be seen. “This year we have gone virtual,” Santa Rick says, “we've done some real live gigs as we call them. But they've been socially distanced.”
Santa Rick Banks with his wife Annie as Mrs. Claus during a Zoom call.
Credit Sean Hurley
One unexpected problem with those live gigs, he says – there’s a certain kind of kid who – if you happen to be Santa Claus - will make a run at you. “I'm pretty good with the moves,” he says, “I mean, sometimes you get one that runs right at you and you got to you know, be like a bullfighter.”