'Cooking by candlelight for days is not romantic'

Families who lost power for a few days because of Storm Éowyn said living without heating, internet or lights was difficult.

Shiona Bickley's home in Bromfield, near Aspatria, Cumbria, was disconnected from Friday until Monday evening and she spent the weekend with her two children by candlelight.

"Cooking by candlelight is not great fun - everybody thinks it's really romantic and after half an hour it's not," she said.

Electricity North West (ENW) said it had dealt with a large number of faults during the weekend and fewer than 200 homes remained without power in the county on Tuesday morning.

Ms Bickley said her children found it difficult not being able to communicate with their friends.

"The children were struggling emotionally with it, trying to play board games by candlelight is actually quite difficult, trying to read by candlelight is very difficult," she said.

Ms Bickley went to her parents' house to do washing, cook meals and charge devices, but said the family was cold without heating at home.

"I've probably got a big electric bill coming from my parents," she joked.

Being without the internet, she said she was not aware of the welfare centres for those without power, until a friend texted.

She used the cafe at Watchtree Nature Reserve, near Great Orton, west of Carlisle, which was one of 14 centres set up by ENW.

Reserve manager Ryan Dobson said some staff had been left without power and wanted to come to work to get warm.

"My first question to them in the morning was: 'are you alright to do this?' and they told me it's warmer here than it is at home," Mr Dobson said.

"All credit to our staff and volunteers in what they've done to help other people out - it really speaks volumes."

Chris Cutts, of Bromfield, was able to access the internet thanks to cafe staff.

He said: "The temperatures dropped, it was cold, I couldn't sleep at night - it was pretty horrific, actually."

He added that being at the centre was "respite from sitting at home in the cold".

Speaking on BBC Radio Cumbria's Mike Zeller at Breakfast Rachael Parr, director at ENW, said the company had kept in touch with its customers throughout the weekend.

However, she urged anyone who may be vulnerable to sign up to its extra support register for help during power cuts.

"The challenge during this particular storm was that we had a high number of different faults, all with complex engineering requirements," she said.

She added that although extra support came in from workers and contractors from other areas, many resources were diverted to Ireland, which was was especially badly battered in the storm.

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