Spectators in the Yorkshire Dales said that they felt physically uncomfortable

The leisurely weekend programme of live concerts, banjo workshops and film screenings did not seem like a recipe for controversy.

Held annually in the Yorkshire Dales, Settle Folk Gathering is an established event in the folk music calendar, attracting performers and fans from across the country.

This year’s event has become embroiled in an unlikely race row, however, after a group of walkers who stumbled across the celebrations took offence at a troupe of blacked-up Morris dancers.

The war of words has now set the market town’s mayor against Mike Harding, the folk singer and former Radio 2 presenter who is the festival’s artistic director.

One of the walkers who raised objections to the blackfaces said she felt physically uncomfortable watching the troupe’s performance in