THIS year's Burton, Milnthorpe and Carnforth Show may turn out to have been the last of its kind after organisers decided to "put the show on ice."

"We are all sorry but we have to face facts," said Gordon Capstick, chairman of Burton Milnthorpe and Carnforth Agricultural Society.

This year's show went ahead without any livestock due to the movement restrictions following last year's foot-and-mouth outbreak.

But Mr Capstick stressed that foot-and-mouth had nothing to do with the society's decision to suspend for the foreseeable future its traditional agricultural show which ahs been going for more than 130 years.

The reasons for the decision are more complicated and more deep-seated than that, said Mr Capstick.

"It is the changing times, its nothing to do with foot-and-mouth.

The reason shows were set up in the first place was to promote agriculture.

Farmers who thought they had the best bull or cow or crop of turnips wanted to show it off to all and sundry - it was a shop window for people so that when it came to the sales they could get a premium price.

Nowadays supermarkets are only interested in price because they can trawl the world to fill their shelves with goods whether they have been sympathetically produced or not.

"We took the decision to put the show on ice and stand back and see what the way forward is - we want to look for new horizons."

Mr Capstick said the show had also seen gate receipts fall while overheads for such things as marquee hire had grown and there was also a problem finding enough volunteers to run the event.

The society has decided not to become a country fair-style event without livestock and will instead look for fresh ways to use its healthy financial status to fulfil its primary role promoting local agriculture.

Meanwhile, the society's social calendar will continue, along with other events such as the silage-making competition and dog-trialling.

What else the society chooses to do is not yet decided but by the time of the AGM in February they hope to have a clearer idea what they will be doing to promote the interests of farmers.

Eric Oliver, secretary of the North West Federation of Show Societies since 1968, told the Gazette: "I am very, very sorry to hear the news - it is a cause of some regret."

He said that, to his know-ledge, Burton, Milnthorpe and Carnforth was the first society in the area to take such a decision.

But he also said many societies had experienced similar problems getting enough volunteers.

"People do not seem to want to volunteer any more," he said.