FOX hunt supporters set off on the last event of the season at the weekend, hoping it would not be their last.

Membership of the South Durham Hunt, based in Prime Minister Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency, has doubled in the past year, making it bigger than any of the surrounding hunts.

Members gathered at the Red Lion pub, in Trimdon Village, on Saturday, ahead of the last of about 40 hunts that have taken place this season.

The first hunt of the season also started in Trimdon Village, when members of hunts from across the region protested at plans to make the activity illegal.

Master of the hunt Mark Shotton said it could be the last fox hunt of its kind, if laws were passed this year.

He said: "We've got a cross-section of people here, everything from the farmer and the blacksmith, to the chap who works in a factory and the council worker who sweeps the road.

"They all get the enjoyment of being on a horse and going across country. They don't know what obstacles they are going to face, or where the obstacles will be."

After the hunt, members gathered for an end-of-season party in Bishopton.