Burtonians turned out in force on Sunday June 30, 1985, to toast the town's sparkling new St Peter's Bridge. Nearly 5,000 people paid their £1 fee to cross the bridge and receive a special certificate to mark the occasion.
But another 10,000 turned out in a blaze of enthusiasm to celebrate the long-awaited second river crossing – which officially opened to traffic on Wednesday, August 21.
The organisers of the carnival- style event – Burton Rotary Club and Burton Lions Club – had only one criticism and that was the weather. If the rain had held off for a little longer, an extra 1,000 people could have paid to cross the bridge and receive their commemorative certificates.
As the bridge was swamped with thousands of people, very few noticed that it wasn't actually finished.
Scores of well-wishers wandered on to the bridge well before the carnival's official opening time of 11am.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of the carnival – not the opening of the bridge – was supposed to have been carried out quietly before the public made it onto the bridge but in the end this was done in the midst of masses of people.
The crowd had to be parted to allow the cavalcade of Rolls-Royce cars to and from the ceremony site.
One of these special guests travelling in a Rolls-Royce was 103-year-old Alice Thornley. Mrs Thornley had celebrated her birthday on the Friday before the carnival and was the only person at the ceremony who could remember crossing the river from her Stapenhill home to Burton by ferry.
The history of St Peter's Bridge and crossing the River Trent
The cavalcade of cars was greeted with a burst of music from the Ind Coope brass band. As Ind Coope marketing director Malcolm Wright, along with Lions president Ken Clarke and Rotary president Archie Gentles, cut the ribbon, the band struck up with 'Congratulations'.
In true carnival style, around 70 floats entered the grand parade. All manner of vehicles took part including a five-seater bicycle and a horse-drawn Romany caravan.
The parade crept gingerly across the new bridge from the Burton end and included some very apt floats.
Gresley Male Voice Choir built their own bridge on an articulated lorry and called it 'a bridge over troubled water'. At the height of the parade a separate party of carnival goers arrived bang on schedule.
In the skies above was British Airways flight BAC 1-11 which had taken off earlier from Birmingham Airport with a load of Burtonians anxious for a bird-s eye view of the bridge.
It wouldn't be Burton without a barrel roll and four lads from Stapenhill's Crown Inn – including landlord Keith Baker – became the first people to roll a barrel of Burton beer across the bridge.
Mr Baker said: "It was a day for firsts and we decided the Crown should be the first to do something. So we took a 36-gallon cask full of Burton beer – it had to be beer from Burton – and rolled it across the bridge from Burton to Stapenhill and back."
People were making charity donations to guess how long the trip would take. In the end it took just over 14 minutes.
Souvenirs of this special day came in all shapes and sizes. The list included specially made China plates in pairs bearing pictures of the old and new bridges.
There were also porcelain tankards with both bridges and the carnival motif along with engraved paperweights, key rings and badges. Further musical entertainment was provided by Burton Organ Centre, Burton Operatic Society and Branston Drama Group.
