Crowds toast Margaret Thatcher's death in macabre celebration: PICTURES

THOUSANDS watched as an effigy of Margaret Thatcher burned on a mock funeral pyre in a former Dearne Valley pit village today.

Revellers in Goldthorpe toasted the passing of Margaret Thatcher by throwing beer bottles and pint glasses into a mock funeral pyre.

The effigy of the former prime minister was seated on a settee, atop a pile of wood and cardboard.

Crowds cheered as fireworks were set off, chanting: “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, dead, dead, dead,” and “Burn Maggie, burn!”

Around 2,000 people lined the streets of the former mining village to see the effigy drawn along Doncaster Road by a pit pony, before being set alight behind the Rusty Dudley pub.

Former miners and unionists made up the funeral cortege, waving banners and flags.