IT SHOULD have been a celebration of the county's best, with thousands of farmers gathering for the first day of the Great Yorkshire Show.

Instead, leading business and farming figures converged on Harrogate today with a clarion call to beat the crisis and face the future together.

The Great Yorkshire Showground was taken over by the Yorkshire and the Humber Rural Forum for a Rural Renaissance event, asking how those at the sharp end could mend their tattered livelihoods.

The regional development agency Yorkshire Forward subtitled the event, Action Not Words.

During the conference, Yorkshire Forward announced that it was making available grants of up to £1million to help businesses suffering from the impact of foot and mouth disease.

The handout will consist of grants of up to £15,000.

The cash forms the second stage of the agency's £2.5 million recovery plan, and will be made available to non-agricultural businesses such as those in the tourism industry.

It follows the payment of £1million in hardship payments to 500 small businesses across the region last month.

The agency also confirmed that more than 200 rural businesses are this week beginning to receive the first payments from its foot and mouth recovery programme.

Among the businesses receiving £2,000 is Rangers House Hotel at Sheriff Hutton Park, near York, where bookings have dried up since February.

The agency says rural people must develop closer links to provide a network of support, both on an everyday basis and in time of crisis.

The date and location of the forum were a poignant reminder to many of those present of the impact of foot and mouth: the Great Yorkshire Show was the biggest event to fall casualty to the disease.

The forum got under way as the disease took root in farming communities close to Helmsley and Thirsk, threatening pig farming in the Vale of York.

Today saw the announcement of another confirmed case of foot and mouth at Manor Farm in Nether Silton, near Thirsk, owned by AD Guthe, of Kepwick Mill.

It is the fifth case in the farming belt between Thirsk and Helmsley and brings the North Yorkshire toll to 103 confirmed cases.

Andy Tordoff, Head of Rural Renaissance for Yorkshire Forward, said: "This event is providing an opportunity to change the way that the rural economy moves forward from here on.

"It is about strengthening and diversifying the economy so that, God forbid this disease should ever happen again, we are not as reliant on the types of industry and agriculture that we are now."

The event was being attended by representatives of The Countryside Agency, Yorkshire Tourist Board, the Country Land and Business Association, Yorkshire Forward, and many others.

John Craven, presenter of the BBC's Countryfile, was chairing a question and answer session.

Meanwhile, a special open air service is being held this weekend to give farmers a chance to pray for an end to the foot and mouth crisis.

The service, which has been organised by the New Life Baptist Church, based in Northallerton, will be held on Sutton Bank on Sunday at 6pm.

- The Saltersgate Farmers' Hunt has cancelled its summer ball, which was to have been held at Lockton on Saturday in a show of solidarity for local farmers.

Updated: 12:02 Tuesday, July 10, 2001