IT'S been party time for villagers in Eastham who have let their hair down to mark the opening of the new bridge over the River Teme.

And even the weather turned up at its best.

Two hundred people took part in the celebrations in warm sunshine.

Before the party there was a blessing on the new bridge by the Rev Robert Barlow, the vicar of Eastham.

A Lottery Fund grant of £4,000 helped the party that was held on the Millennium Green in the village to go with a swing.

An afternoon of entertainment and celebrations included a special tea-party in the traditional style of an English country village.

Among those celebrating were children who can now use the bridge to get to and from Lindridge School rather than make a long detour via Tenbury.

There were games, a marquee and a bar with piped music.

It had been planned to have the party later in the summer in line with the formal opening but the Big Lottery Fund rules required that the money was spent by a set date or lost.

The new bridge was opened to traffic at the end of April although there is some completion work to be finished. It is hoped that there will be a formal opening by the end of the summer.

The former bridge that was built in the 1790s collapsed on a quiet May afternoon a year ago.

Buses carrying children from Lindridge School were approaching it when it fell into the River Teme.

Fortunately, no one was hurt but in the minds of celebrating villagers was the knowledge that but for good fortune they would not be having a party but could have been marking the anniversary of a dreadful tragedy.

An investigation has revealed that the foundations of the old bridge had been eroded by water although Worcestershire County Council has always maintained that it was inspected according to requirements and had been examined in December 2015, five months before the collapse.

It was initially hoped that a temporary bridge, perhaps a pontoon-type structure, could be put in place but this was quickly dashed.

In August last year, Worcestershire County Council announced that a replacement bridge would be built to the same dimensions and on the same line as the one that fell down.

By doing this, the requirement for a major environmental study that would have resulted in a lengthy delay was removed.

Work on the new bridge that was able to use some material from the historic structure was started last autumn.

The autumn was a difficult time with tractors and heavy farm vehicles having to take the long route on narrow country roads.

Celia Adams, who lives in Eastham but farms on both sides of the river was one of the people who faced both inconvenience and additional cost, as did delivery and tradespeople as well as people travelling to work.

Children at Lindridge School had to get up an hour earlier and got home an hour later in the afternoon.

It all began to take shape at the end of February when the steel structures were lifted into place with giant cranes during a three-day operation.

At the opening in April the first vehicle over the bridge was driven by the driver who had been approaching it in his minibus when it collapsed last May.

The reopening marked the end of a year of anguish, inconvenience and cost for villagers. It involved a lengthy diversion along narrow country lanes throughout the winter in dark nights.

Fortunately, the winter was relatively mild with an absence of ice and snow.

There was also concern about emergency service vehicles taking longer to get to the village and Eastham was cut off from its paramedic who lives in Lindridge.