The annual event, which was established in 1874, would have clashed with the crowning ceremony on May 6 so will now be held a week later – on Saturday, May 13 from 2pm at Highfield School, Gawthorpe Lane.

Duncan Smith, organiser of the 149th anniversary event, said: “We’re putting the procession back a week because everybody involved will be busy with other things celebrating the coronation, so it just made sense.”

The procession will be between three quarters of a mile and a mile long, walking from Gawthorpe village down to Ossett town centre and looping back up.

It will be led by a traditional brass band, the Old Silkstone Band and headed by the May Queen elect, Melissa Ferdinand and her four maids of honour.

There will also be maypole dancers from Gawthorpe Academy, who will carrying out the traditional maypole dance on the green after the procession, plus singing; floats from community organisations, schools, and businesses, as well as people in fancy dress during the parade.

Maypole dancing dates back as far as Richard II in England, reaching most of the rural villages including Gawthorpe during the reign of Henry VIII.

In 1850, a Gawthorpe villager by the name of Mr. A. Pollard suggested and bought the first recorded permanent maypole.

And the current maypole was installed in 1986 after the previous one, erected in 1953, was found on inspection to be unsafe and liable to collapse at any time.