limiting a select

Hi,
I am using the following query

    $query  = "SELECT id, title, type, SUBSTRING(description FOR $description_size) as description, ";
    $query .= "date, display_date ";
    $query .= "FROM events WHERE active='t' ";
    $query .= "ORDER BY date ASC;";

I was wondering if someone could give me a hint on how to alter this to
only return 9 results, of which there will, if available, be up to 3 of
each 'type' of event.

There are 3 possible values for the type column (text) in the db.

Any pointers appreciated,
Chris


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