It is Christmas Eve, 1932, and a ghostly silence has descended on the borough. Residents line the streets, squinting into the icy fog, straining to see the special visitor they have been warned would visit on this auspicious night.

No, not the one with the sleighbells and paunch - the one with the body armour and no head.

Sir Geoffrey de Mandeville, a medieval knight connected with William the Conqueror who owned tracts of land around Middlesex, is believed to make an appearance around Oak Hill Park, near East Barnet village. It is believed he came to an untimely and ugly end in a brook near Trent Park, and has been hunted by eager ghostbusters ever since. Apparently he was last seen galloping across Ghosts' Promenade (aka Church Hill Road) in 2004.

The hunt of 1932 was attended by 545 men, 180 women and two greyhounds, but sadly their prey eluded them. Now, 75 years later, borough residents are having another go, assembling at the same spot on the anniversary, to try to finish the job.

But this year there is a more important aim than just snagging a spectre. Organisers are also hoping to generate awareness of the plight of 1,000-year-old St Mary's Church, in Church Hill Road, which is facing a financial shortfall for 2008. Maintaining the buildings and churchyard costs around £1,500 per week, or £15 a week for each of its worshippers.

Those wishing to make a donation to St Mary's should contact Reverend Richard Watson via the church's website at www.stmarys-eastbarnet.org.uk Hunters do not have to donate to enjoy the hunt - then again, Sir Mandeville didn't, and look what happened to him.

On your head be it.