MAGDALEN College choir had sung from the top of the college tower, and the crowds drifted away from Magdalen Bridge to join in the rest of the festivities.

It was May morning 1979 and, as usual, thousands gathered for the annual celebrations in Oxford.

Part of the packed throng is pictured in High Street heading towards Broad Street to see morris dancers in action or perhaps to visit one of the many cafes offering an early breakfast.

The Oxford Mail reported: “The city was awash with the usual cheery mob of drunken partygoers, daffodilbedecked clowns and bemused foreigners.

“Regulars were saying the crowd was not as big as normal. Maybe it had something to do with the wintry early morning drizzle, but the tide of people had clogged Magdalen Bridge by 5.30am.

“The choir, boosted by loudspeakers, briefly quietened the tinkle of Champagne bottles breaking on the pavement and then the tide turned, the conga line wound its way back up towards Carfax and the morris dancers struck up outside Blackwells.

“Restaurants and cafes all over the city centre opened their doors for May morning breakfast, with some revellers paying as much as £2.25 for their bacon and eggs. Others found pubs serving beer from 6am.”

The drizzle that day also affected celebrations at St Barnabas School in Jericho, where the May Queen was crowned and country dancing took place indoors instead of in the playground.

At St Michael’s School at Marston, spelling and sums gave way to traditional springtime activities.

Headmaster Michael Howard said: “We had a maypole and country dances, and one of the boys was ‘Jackin-the-Green’, with a wooden frame interwoven with evergreen leaves.”

Long Wittenham’s May Queen, Amanda Strange, 11, was crowned by the 1978 queen, Louise Jones, 12, in the village hall because of the rain.

Traditionally, girls danced round the village handing out posies of flowers to the elderly, but the trip had to be made by car.

McGill Bass and Suzanne Maxwell were crowned May King and Queen at Tackley School, while at Charltonon-Otmoor, schoolchildren marked the festival by dancing in the street.