More than 1,000 partying villagers turned out to watch the demolition of 60 flats.

A community party on the playing field at Berinsfield, near Wallingford, yesterday marked the start of South Oxfordshire Housing Association's demolition of flats in Evenlode Drive and Cherwell Road.

The flats will be replaced by 24 new houses for sale and 32 for rent. A further 16 houses are to be built at nearby Lodden Avenue.

Wantage Silver Band entertains the crowd and adds to the party atmosphere

Raffle-winner Jean Welford, of Fane Drive, Berinsfield, had the privilege of taking the first chunk out of the flats with an excavator.

Mrs Welford, a dinner supervisor at the village school, said: "A man told me which levers to pull and I managed to hit something."

She added: "I think it will be a great improvement when the flats are down. I didn't think they should have been built in the first place."

As the machine ate its way through a third-floor bedroom, the Wantage Silver Band played party tunes and the crowd cheered.

The old flats did not meet fire-safety standards.

The new housing will cost £3.5m, paid for by SOHA and a social housing grant from South Oxfordshire District Council.

The demolition is expected to take a couple of weeks, with the rubble taken to Reading for recycling.

Richard Peacock, SOHA's chief executive, said the new houses will be completed next summer.

The village festivities included a wide range of community stalls, a barbecue and two Bouncy Castles along with RAF Benson's 33 Squadron amphibious troop carrier. Thames Valley Police brought an information trailer and horses.

The new housing is to be linked with a £1m environmental improvement scheme funded by the district council's community trust fund.

Six months of consultation by Jon Rowland Urban Design and Landscape Design Associates has produced a "shopping list" of changes villagers would most like to see.

"Unfortunately the full list would cost £2.4m so we have to prioritise," said Mr Rowland.

Key proposals include:

**Better parking around the shops, Abbey Sports Centre and village school

**A well-drained football pitch

**Bowling green for older residents

**Upgraded children's play areas

**A new "gateway" to the village from the A4074