The weather may have been underwhelming but everything else was near perfect for the 1989 Hattersley Carnival, with locals saying it was the best parade in years.
Light rain had threatened all Saturday morning and finally fell as the procession was setting off from the community centre.
Carnival queens from across the region, sitting on the bonnets of flower-bedecked cars waved at the crowds from under their multi-coloured umbrellas.
Taking pride of place were the Hattersley ‘royals’ - queen Theresa Taylor, 21, junior queen Shelly Mayall, 17, princess Rachel Bezer, 11, and rosebud Lisa-Marie Brierley, eight.
Luckily the rain did not last long and the rousing music played by Micklehurst Band brought residents to their front doors to cheer on the parade wending its way around the estate, led by the sleek chestnut police horses with ‘the riders looking as immaculate as their mounts’, as the North Cheshire Herald observed.
Several groups on the estate had floats while high-stepping morris dancers, fancy dress characters and jazz bands added to the spectacle.
Elderly residents from the Ivy Club sat on deckchairs on a milk float while teddy boys and girls jived on the back of a lorry.
It took the parade 90 minutes to reach Longdendale Recreation Centre fields where there were roundabouts, swings, inflatables and a host of attractions.
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