The farming community at the centre of the foot-and- mouth outbreak came together in prayer yesterday.
Until February, few people outside the North East had heard of the village of Heddon-on-the-Wall, several miles west of Newcastle.
Now the name is synonymous with the plague which threatens to wipe out half of Britain's farm animals.
The eyes of the world turned on Heddon when Bobby Waugh's Burnside Farm was identified as the probable source of the outbreak.
Now, six of the parish's 19 farms have the disease - and those unaffected know it could strike at any time.
The pews of St Andrew's Parish Church, which dates back to Saxon times, were full yesterday for a service dedicated to the farmers and their families.
The Reverend Peter Bryars lit a candle for each of the 19 farms and said prayers for the community as a whole.
Read more about Foot and Mouth here.
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