London, Dec 30 (ANI): When Helen MacGregor received a postcard featuring the town where she grew up, it brought back fond memories.

However, her delight turned into amazement when she found herself in the centre of the photograph as a toddler.

Helen, now 24, was sent the postcard by family friend Sophie Clovis, also 24, as a Christmas greeting hoping it would bring a smile to her face.

However, Clovis also had no idea that Helen was in the image.

The picture shows Helen, a writer, aged three with pigtails, being pushed round a market by her mum Gill MacGregor, now 53.

The shot was taken 21 years ago by a professional photographer showing the cobbled market in the traditional West Yorkshire town of Otley.

Clovis had been driving through in November when she decided to get her oldest school friend a sentimental Christmas card.

“I grew up just outside of Otley and my mum and I used to go shopping at the market every Friday morning,” the Telegraph quoted MacGregor, who now lives in Leeds, as saying.

“One of my earliest memories is of being given a free biscuit by a lady on the cake stall each time I went, so I always looked forward to going.

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw the postcard. I recognised my mum’s eighties perm first and then my blonde pig tails. I always wore my hair like that.

“I rang Sophie straight away to thank her for my Christmas card, but asked if it was a joke and if she’d somehow managed to superimpose my mum and I onto the card,” she added.

MacGregor said: “When I saw her a few days before Christmas I showed her the card and she confirmed it was definitely us.”

“She couldn’t believe it either. We are both amazed. We don’t know the exact date when it was taken, but we think I’m about three which makes it 21 years ago,” she added. (ANI)