VILLAGERS in Tockholes gave up their kitchens during a 17-hour power cut to help pub staff prepare for a wedding reception.

The function at the Victoria Hotel, Golden Soney, looked doomed after the electricity supply to 190 homes and businesses in Tockholes went off at around 7.15pm on Friday.

The power was not reconnected until lunchtime on Saturday, leaving residents without heating and lighting and staff at the Victoria Hotel without a working kitchen to prepare and cook the 20 meals.

Guests were due to arrive at the hotel in the afternoon on Saturday but landlord and landlady Jane and George Levey had to find a way to prepare and cook the meals in advance.

They managed to get in touch with some of the villagers who had old-fashioned agas and all 20 meals were ready in time for the bridge and bridegroom.

Jane said: "It was an absolute nightmare because we had a wedding party booked on the Saturday and the power didn't come back on until 12.10pm.

"We managed to get the meals done in time and we think the couple were happy with the reception because they got exactly what they wanted but we had to use everyone else's cookers to do it.

"I have customers who I knew had agas in their kitchens so I got in touch with them and they were happy for me to use them.

"At one stage I was panicking and I thought I was going to have to send out to someone for catering.

"I ended up cooking between two people's houses and the pub, where we had a propane gas stove in our kitchen and a small generator because the power goes off a lot up here."

Jane said the power had started to go on and off the previous weekend and was just another in a long series of power cuts which have affected the village during the past few years. Villagers were told last year that the cuts were being caused by trees interfering with the overhead cables so the trees were removed.

Resident Dave Grogan said: "Last year we had on average about one a month but the trees have been cut down so I don't know what's caused it this time.

"We have a camping stove and solid fuel fire because of previous power cuts but we were worried about the plants in the greenhouse and the food in the freezer."

A spokesperson for United Utilities said: "There was a problem on the overhead cables.

"Some insulators had broken which could have been due to a number of things such as the wind or birds.

"We had a team of engineers out there fixing the line and they worked as quickly as they could to restore the supply.

"The power came on at various stages but everyone was back on by 12.05pm.

"We apologise for the delay. "