HUNDREDS of fun-seekers descended on The Rye for the “biggest snowball fight in Wycombe’s history” organised by a group of friends on Facebook.

James Tadgell, 24, was talking to friends Jonathan Terry and Paddy Hanbury on the social networking site as the snow fell on Tuesday night, when the group decided to organise the snowy scrap.

The trio, along with Mr Tadgell’s girlfriend Abbie May Hopkins, invited friends to the event via a Facebook group – which quickly snowballed and gained almost 2,000 members.

Around 500 people dusted off their winter warmers for yesterday’s 3pm showdown near The Rye’s children’s play area.

A video from the snowball fight made last night's national news and has already gained hundreds of views on YouTube.

Cressex Road resident Mr Tadgell, who was originally due to go into a London recording studio with fledgling band All About She, said: “It’s fantastic.

“It gives people a chance to come together when things are very restricted in terms of transport, especially as last time all the focus was on all the doom and gloom.

“We just wanted to do something positive that people can come along to and have a bit of fun and boost community spirit.

“And to think it started off as speaking to a few friends on my status to try and get this happening.

"It just took off and went crazy as people invited people to the Facebook group and spread the word.

“It’s really surprising how it all took off. I was hoping for 100 group members in total but we had ten times that, obviously not all came, but it’s still a great turn out.”

Friends Tracy Cox and Josey Mills found out about the snowball battle looking around on Facebook after their Watford work base was shut down for the day.

They said: “It’s a fantastic idea, it’s so nice to see people from Wycombe coming together, making the most of the weather and having a bit of fun.”

PCSO Ben Eustice was bombarded with snow as he made a routine patrol through The Rye – but took it on the chin and fought back.

He said: “I expected it might happen but it comes with the territory when the weather is like this and I was just protecting myself from attack.

“But in all seriousness, everyone is having a good time, everyone is enjoying themselves and it’s great for community spirit.”

The following video was uploaded to YouTube. WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS BAD LANGUAGE.