Hundreds of homes in Oswestry affected by power cut
A choral choir in Oswestry battled on in true Dunkirk style when a power cut threatened to bring the curtain down on their performance.
Hundreds of homes were affected last night when the lights went out in a town-wide power cut which was due to an underground cabling fault.
Members of the Cantiones Chamber Choir had just finished the first half of their Christmas concert, which was being staged at the town's Christ Church.
At just after 8.30pm the lights went out – but after a few mince pies and last minute adjustments they decided to carry on by the light of candles and mobile phones.
John Moore, chairman of the choir, said: "We realised that we could still perform the Mendelssohn cantata but we did cut it short.
"We struggled through the second half but it seemed the audience enjoyed it and several said they felt the candles and mobile phones added to the atmosphere.
"With a Dunkirk spirit we muddled through."
A spokeswoman for Scottish Power said the fault was first reported at around 8.30pm.
Although engineers were able to restore power temporarily, it was intermittent and the fault was not fully repaired until the early hours of the morning.
She added: "We would like to apologise to all of our customers for any inconvenience this may have caused."
