A NIGHTLY hornblowing tradition, which stretches back 1,000 years, almost came to an unceremonious halt.

Workmen setting up a fairground at the Market Place in Ripon, North Yorkshire, had unwittingly blocked the way of 67-year-old hornblower George Pickles.

When Mr Pickles arrived to give the traditional four blasts on the ancient horn at the four corners of the obelisk, he had to climb over wire mesh, ladders, electricity cables, trailers and fairground rides.

The area in the centre of the Market Place was supposed to have been kept clear for the ceremony.

But when Mr Pickles, dressed in his £500 frock coat and wearing his tricorn hat, asked a workman what was happening he responded: "Why, who are you?"

Mr Pickles said: "I thought it was pretty obvious who I was when I was in my official uniform and carrying a horn.

"But I decided there was no point in getting into an argument and just had to climb over and around things.

"In doing so I got oil on my ceremonial coat which had to be cleaned and I found the whole thing pretty undignified."

Tourists who had come to see the ceremony were given an apology by Mr Pickles, who explained to them the history behind Ripon's hornblowing tradition.

It is not the first time the hornblower ceremony has clashed with the fairground.

Last year Harrogate Borough Council secured an agreement with fairground operators that the rides and music would be switched off immediately before the hornblowing ceremony started at 9pm.

They acted after high volume fairground music had made it impossible for the hornblower to be heard by tourists.

The council is now writing to the fair's operators to remind them of the "all quiet" period imposed as a condition of the fairground being held in the town.