The tag line was obviously to give the orchestra extra publicity, but the slogan was totally inappropriate

John Cawdell, Mole Valley District Council

When a complaint was made by Mole Valley District Council's leisure department steps were "immediately" made to address the error, said leisure boss John Cawdell.

Mr Cawdell told BBC News Online: "The tag line for the orchestra's appearance was created by one of our external design consultants.

"That, however, is not to excuse the council from this, since it was proof-read several times afterwards by staff here."

He said the apology letters should have reached the mailing-list members on Thursday.

"The reason the tag line was put on the envelope was obviously to give the orchestra's appearance extra publicity, but the slogan was totally inappropriate," added Mr Cawdell.

The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) said the slogan potentially breached the 1976 race relations act, but praised the council for its "swift" response to the problem.

A CRE spokeswoman told a newspaper that it would not be acceptable to refer to black people in a similar way, for example.