Whaley Bridge friends complete 13-mile hike dressed as Minions for Children in Need

John Holmes, Jonathan Cross, Dave Holt and Ian Gould have been staging costumed walks for Children in Need every other year since 2016, but following a Covid-enforced three years off they decided to add an extra layer to the challenge before they headed out on Saturday, October 15.

While previous ventures saw the group in polka dot lederhosen, or fancy dress themed on the Hungry Caterpillar and Toy Story, recreating the dastardly yellow henchmen of the Despicable Me franchise of animated movies took a bit more engineering.

Tracy Smith, Ian’s partner and a fellow graphic designer, was tasked with making the costumes. She said: “They came up with this idea over a few drinks in the pub. I wasn’t there, I might have said something if I was – it took about ten days.”

The difficulties did not end at the sewing machine, as the nine-foot tall costumes with limited visibility required some careful manoeuvres around puddles and stiles on the route from Whaley town centre to Combs, Whitehough, Buxworth and back home again for a pint in their regular haunt, the Goyt Inn.

Ian said: “The was a moment up on Eccles Pike, the most exposed place on the route, when we were absolutely battered by wind and hail for ten minutes.

“Dave took a tumble and was just lying there on the floor. We thought he’d hurt himself but his costume was so cumbersome he couldn’t work out how to stand up again.”

Still the eye-catching costumes did the trick of capturing people’s attention at every step along the way.

Ian said: “As we were walking along the A6, cars were stopping to give us money, and people said they’d heard about us and were driving around to find us and take photos with their kids.

“Aside from the money, that’s the most rewarding thing – that we could make people smile and bring a little sunshine into their day.”

The stunt has so far raised about £1,800 but the group hopes to push past the £2,000 mark so they will be out and about collecting in Buxton town centre on Saturday, November 12.

Ian said: “We’ve all got children and realise how lucky we are that none have had serious health issues. We all know families who have lost children or endured some kind of hardship and benefitted from children’s charities. We just want to give something back.

“We’re absolutely chuffed to have raised so much already, especially given the current situation when so many people are feeling hard up. People have been amazingly generous.”

After their visit to Buxton, the foursome are considering raffling off the costumes or making them available for other people’s fundraising ventures. They are already hatching new plans for world domination in 2024.

To add to their final total, donate via https://bit.ly/3Dz9j40.

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