A LARGE number of riders turned out for the traditional Boxing Day meet of the Cury Hunt in Helston.

Taking part were about 35 riders made up of members of the hunt and their friends and relatives, who met at The Monument at the bottom of Coinagehall Street.

They were joined by dozens more spectators, many of who accompanied the hunt in their vehicles and on foot and watched from various points along the route.

The riders' scarlet coats set against the white sky created a festive look. Some even carried on the Christmas theme by dressing their horses with reindeer antlers and Santa hats.

Providing the stirrup cup this year was John Nesbit, new landlord of the recently refurbished and renamed Seven Stars pub - formerly the Fitzsimmons Arms - in Coinagehall Street.

Ian Williams, joint master of Cury Hunt, said: "There were the usual crowd there, with quite a large crowd of people to greet us.

"There were also quite a few strangers there, which is encouraging. Everyone seemed to be quite happy. I'd just like to thank the town of Helston for once again allowing us in."

For the first time, Cury Hunt provided their own stewards to manage the traffic and take care of the roads while the hunt met. This task has normally been carried out by police, but the hunt has taken it over because of changes in Kerrier district council regulations.

After meeting at The Monument, the hunt made its way through Lower Nansloe and then Higher Nansloe, before following a number of artificial trails laid around the Gunwalloe Valley.

An estimated 320,000 people took part in Boxing Day meets nationally.

This has led to the Countryside Alliance calling for the reversal of the two-year-old ban on live hunting, claiming the amount of support showed it was irrelevant.

This view was supported by Mr Williams, who said: "We aren't really doing our purpose, which is to provide sport and also to the farmers for fox control.

"We used to pick up the more elderly foxes and sick foxes - that's what we would like to get back. We're sort of fooling our hounds now and they do seem a bit disappointed at the end when there isn't anything to show for it."