DEFIANT huntsmen ignored anti-bloodsport protesters when they took to the moors at the annual Boxing Day Holcombe Hunt meeting at Rivington.

Although jeering demonstrators lined the entry to Rivington Barn, waving placards and making their voices heard with megaphones, around 60 riders set off on the traditional hunting spectacle.

Hundreds of delighted spectators cheered as horses and hounds paraded around a field close to Rivington Hall before the hunt began, amid the furious cries of "murderers" and "scum" from around 60 protesters who had come from across the North-west.

Police officers on standby were not called upon as the stand-off ended without incident.

Lorraine Holden, spokesman from Preston Action For Animals, said: "We're here again and we will be until this is banned. We've been let down by the Government.

"Most of the riders will have been in church yesterday and they're trying to kill our wildlife today. They are hypocrites of the worst order."

But George Dickinson, joint master of the Holcombe Hunt, was delighted with the support shown on the day.

"I think the turnout of riders and spectators has shown today that there is still a lot of support," he said.

"We will be here every year unless there is a ban, but this seems to have slipped off the agenda now. The protesters have made a lot of noise but never really threaten to stop the hunt."

The Holcombe Hunt could be forced to make changes if a Government bill to ban all forms of fox, deer, mink and hare hunting is finally passed.

Although MPs have passed the bill through the Commons, peers in the House of Lords launched a last-ditch attempt to save the sport which could delay the legislation for up to two years.