ORGANISERS of the Royal Lancashire Show hailed the success of the event, despite the scourge of foot and mouth. The county's most prestigious pageant, believed to be the oldest of its kind in the country, completed its 234th year in style at Chorley's Astley Park yesterday, just months after it faced cancellation because of the epidemic.

Thousands of people took advantage of the glorious sunshine to attend, though organisers said it was too early to say whether the attendance was up on last year.

However, advance ticket sales were reported to be 20 per cent up with 60,000 people expected to attend.

Dozens of stalls and exhibits certainly made up for the lack of farm animals. Over the three days crowds were treated to a catalogue of events including motorbike displays, show jumping, dog shows, donkeys, the Pendle Wildcats polo cross team and funfair favourites.

Rennie Pinder, Chairman of the Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society, who laid on the show, said: "This year has seen a very, very successful show and hopefully the attendance will at least have held, if not gone up, from last year.

"Foot and mouth was a serious threat but it's fantastic that we have managed to get so many people from the world of agriculture together for three wonderful days."

Denise Welch, who played Natalie Barnes, landlady of The Rovers Return in Coronation Street, attended the event with her five-month-old son Louis and was one of the many visitors in the main ring to watch the show jumping.

No cattle or sheep meant an added bonus for the Blackburn-based Daniel Thwaites shire horses who for the first time were able to spend three days at the show.

Horseman Richard Green said: "It's a terrible shame about the foot and mouth but it's great for us because we have been able to show on all three days instead of just one like we would do normally."