TORRENTIAL rain and vandalism marred Settle's annual flag festival and Sheep Shambles.

The downpours forced many of the free events planned for the Market Place pavilion into the sanctuary of the Victoria Hall, where audiences were rewarded with a performance by world renowned saxophonist John Helliwell, of Supertramp.

Appearing with fellow local musicians, and jokingly calling themselves the "Victoria Hall Raisers", the group showed off their talents in effortless interpretations of popular jazz classics.

Speaking after the performance Mr Helliwell, who lives locally, said how much he had enjoyed the event. "It's been great," he told the Herald. "The acoustics in the Victoria Hall are very good and there have been lots of children enjoying the music which was good to see."

The highs of the festival masked the damage caused to some of the flags produced by volunteers, including those made by Settle Middle School children.

During the early hours of Sunday vandals overturned the towering scaffolding outside the school, causing flags and poles to crash into the road. Police and festival organiser Steve Finch managed to clear the highway, but the flags had to be left on the verge.

Middle school headteacher James Mansley said: "The children made the flags, motivated and inspired by the works of Mattisse and Kandinsky. They were beautiful and on Friday even featured in The Guardian in an article about the area.

"The children were very fed up on Monday morning and there were some long faces. I would like to give a piece of my mind to the person or persons who thought it was such a good joke".

Steve Finch, of Settle Chamber of Trade added: "It's a great shame that a small minority seem to take such pleasure in trying to spoil all the hard work that people put in. I must admit I can't understand their mentality. After all, it's their community that they're wrecking, so they're only doing themselves harm in the long run."

Middle school pupils did have something to smile about however, when 14 of the school's entries were highly commended in the Tourist Information Centre's "design a postcard" competition.

The overall winners, middle school pupil Polly Marchesi and Giggleswick Primary School's Jessica Wainwright each won a day out for four on the Settle to Carlisle railway.

Highly commended middle school pupils were Rachel Hulatt, Zoe Watson, Martin Reynolds, Megan Gadre, Rebecca Wilcock, Sophie Bryson, Hayley Thompson, Phoebe Smith, Becky Davis, James Lay, James Booth, Jenny Simpson, Thomas Fortune and David Bradley.

On Saturday there was some "singing in the rain" for children from Giggleswick Primary and Settle High schools, who braved the weather to perform in the Market Place. There were also performances by the Inner State Theatre and Settle Youth Theatre.

Mr Finch added: "Sadly the weather and the Gargrave road closure took its toll on the number of visitors we had, but it was clear that all who attended thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

"We'll definitely be back next year - and keeping our fingers crossed for less traditional Dales weather."