AN East Lancashire hunt's final Boxing Day event was halted before it even began, due to the area's white Christmas.

The Rossendale-based Holcombe Harriers traditionally meet at Rivington Barn, near Horwich, on Boxing Day for an event which has become a flash point for protesters and supporters alike.

But members of the hunt said they opted for a small gathering away from Rivington this year after snow fell throughout Christmas Day.

Hunt saboteurs and protesters also stayed away, having previously announced they would not be staging demonstrations amid fears for their safety.

For the Holcombe Hunt, which has members across East Lancashire, and hunts across the country, this Boxing Day was set to be the last where they could legally hunt for animals.

From February, hunting will be outlawed after the Government invoked the Parliament Act to over-rule continued House of Lords opposition to their law banning bloodsports.

But the Government indicated last week it would not oppose any legal challenge to their use of the Parliament Act, which could effectively delay the ban until after the general election in May.

One member of the hunt, who asked not to be named, said: "We did meet, but not at Rivington, because the weather had been bad.

"We hope we'll be hunting next year, and we hope a legal challenge will be successful."

The Holcombe Hunt is one of the oldest Harrier packs in England, predominantly hunting hares. It has rarely been away from controversy. Saboteurs descended on the house of leading huntsman Arnold Greenhalgh, of Brindle, in 1996 and presented him with a fox they said had died a slow, agonising death after being attacked on a hunt.

Then, in 2000, when the hunting debate was discussed in Parliament, Mr Greenhalgh claimed the hounds belonging to the hunt would have to be put down if there was any ban, because they could not become pets.

A spokesman for the League Against Cruel Sports said: "Hopefully the scene people saw in Rivington on Boxing Day, with no hunt, will be a scene they can get used to every year."

Staff at Rivington barn confirmed they had been told the Holcombe hunt had decided not to come to Rivington, but had been scheduled to.