NORTH Yorkshire farmers crowded into Ripon Cathedral for a service to mark the effects of the foot and mouth disease across the county.

The service, was attended by senior members of the farming community and church, was intended to help the county's communities look towards a more positive future.

Many farming families directly hit by the disease last year were among more than 400 people who attended.

Lay members of the congregation, including Viscountess Lowther and a vet charged with culling sheep on North Yorkshire farms, talked about the despair they witnessed at the height of the epidemic.

Prayers, which were led by the Bishop of Ripon and the Bishop of Knaresborough, were intended to offer hope for afflicted farmers.

The Church of England's national rural officer, the Rev. Canon Jeremy Martineau, gave the address.

He told congregation members the entire nation was unprepared for the devastating effects of the disease.

"Our systems were strained to breaking point, and they broke," he said. "There will be some here today who feel anger which, if not allowed to be expressed in constructive ways, will turn in on itself and produce despair inside.

Mr Martineau said it was vital for farmers to look towards the future.

"Those who have done better must help those who have done badly. All of us can help the wider rural community by inviting visitors back into the countryside.

The disease struck the farm of John Furness, of Kirby Knowle, near Thirsk, last July.

"I thought it was a very moving service," he said. "There were a lot of home truths said by various people. It was good to see so many people here."

Updated: 10:48 Friday, March 01, 2002