A ROW has broken out over controversial changes to a historic Easter service run by churches in Selby.

The annual Walk of Witness was held around the town yesterday, pictured, to mark Good Friday but, for the first time, there was no outdoor service.

Selby Churches Together, the inter-denominational group that co-ordinates the event, abandoned the open-air reading at the Market Cross because of problems with traffic noise, which meant many people could not hear the service.

Worshippers followed the traditional route of the walk, which has been running for about 30 years, from St Mary's RC Church, in Gowthorpe, but had a service in Selby Abbey instead.

Parish priest Father John Aveyard, of St Mary's, said he would welcome a return to the outdoor event next year.

He said: "I think it was a decision that was made for good reasons, but it probably turned out to be the wrong decision.

"Whether they can hear or not, a lot of people can see it and in that way we are witnessing because it is supposed to be a walk of witness."

The Rev Margaret Cundiff, associate minister of St James's Church, said many people had not learned of the change until days before the event.

"I am very disappointed about this," she said. "I hope it won't happen again. If Jesus hung on the cross for us, we should stand publicly. It is our act of witness and so I am very disappointed in the decision."

But Nigel Currey, a methodist preacher and former chairman of Churches Together, said the event needed to be changed.

He said: "I quite like the idea of staying outdoors but I am not too keen on the spot we have been meeting because we have not been heard very well. We have got to rethink that location."