TODMORDEN Agricultural Show has been cancelled, and a horse charity is struggling for funds, because of the foot and mouth crisis.

On the day Trawden Show organisers announced they had cancelled, Todmorden Show committee held a meeting at the White Hart Hotel, Todmorden, when it was unanimously decided after consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food and Calderdale Council environmental services to scrap this year's event.

The show should have taken place at Centre Vale Park on June 16.

The park is at the very edge but outside the exclusion zone which extends to just across the road.

Show secretary Robert Goldthorpe said the decision had been taken with great regret but in support of the farmers of Yorkshire and Lancashire who had supported them over the years.

He said they could not justify going ahead with the event and the unanimous feeling was to support local farmers by cancelling the show which was a major event in the calendar of the town.

They were now looking forward to resurrecting the show in 2002.

Meanwhile, the Horses and Ponies Protection Association is appealing for funds after the crisis forced it to close its rescue centres at Shores Hey Farm, Halifax Road, Briercliffe, and at Brockweir in Gwent.

A HAPPA spokesman said: "Our rescue centres are surrounded by local farms and the only way to prevent the spreading of the foot and mouth disease was to close the rescue centres. A large part of our income is generated through visits to the rescue centres by members of the public, and our funds are fast becoming depleted.

"Although the rescue centres are closed, the good work of the association continues and we urge the public to continue to support our association through this difficult time."

Donations can be sent to the Horses and Ponies Protection Association, The Stables, Burnley Wharf, Manchester Road, Burnley, BB11 1JZ.