A number of winters during the 1970s were affected by significant spells of Power Cuts, often pre-planned and for several hours. Although the most well known tend to be associated with the “Winter of Discontent” in 1978/79, arguably the problems were greater earlier in the decade.
in late 1970 there was a series of strikes by Power Workers. At times over a quarter of the country was without power for a long period – between two and four hours at a time was expected, although the cuts could have been longer, and there were sometimes two such blackout periods on the same day. Various manufacturing businesses had to close for periods – production was halted at the Cement Works at times, pumping of water to reservoirs was impacted. More people were reliant on solid-fuel heating in those days, but the cold weather and blackouts still had a major impact.
During early 1972 there was a similar power issue, during the strikes that included mineworkers. This led to a “State of Emergency” being declared in February as a cold snap hit people hard – with both electricity and coal shortages affecting the ability to keep warm.
Having a supply of candles was essential in the days when todays “D” cell batteries where known as “U2” or “SP2” and seemed to last a few minutes in anything needing much power. Some resourceful people rigged up lighting systems using car batteries.
More details to be added.
