THE day they threw the switches and Cwmbran joined the 20th century in earnest holds an electrifying fascination for Graham Lawrence (pictured).

The 72-year-old, whose family has lived in and around the town for generations, was intrigued by how little was known of the advent of electricity in Cwmbran.

"It was something I was determined to throw light upon," he said. His quest for enlightenment began after a cousin sent him a photograph of three of his uncles leaving Court Farm, Cwmbran, which was home to part of the Lawrence family from 1888 until the 1930s.

"The three of them are in a pony and trap and wearing bowler hats. The picture could have been any time in the latter part of the 19th century up almost to the last war.

"Then I spotted an early electricity pylon which was nothing more than something like a huge telegraph pole in the corner of the picture. From that I was able to get a pretty accurate estimate."

Mr Lawrence, of Brunel Road, Fairwater, a keen local historian, then trawled through council minutes at what is now Torfaen council.

He discovered that the former Llantarnam and Lanfrechfa councils pooled their efforts and in 1925 combined Llantarnam and Llanfrechfa Upper Electricity was set up.

An application for a loan of £17,500 was made to the Electricity Commissioners in 1927 with a further loan application of £650 to the Ministry of Health for public lighting.

"By January, 1930 tariffs were agreed and the scheme was up and running," he said. "As part of my researches I was able to talk to an old lady who still lives in Cwmbran and who worked for the electricity company in the early days.

"She told me about the scheme to rent electrical cookers and during the war when American soldiers at Llantarnam bought an ice-making machine from the electricity company."

The demand for electricity was propelled by increasing consumer demand. Despite the recession and a coal strike, the late 1920s saw consumer durables becoming available to a wider public.

A protracted coal strike badly hit gas production and increased public disenchantment with a power source that was dirty, relatively dangerous and provided a poor reading light.

"It was a social revolution, but reading through the old minutes, I was struck by the problems then which we still face today," Mr Lawrence said.

"In 1931 the council's clerk of works reported that instructions had been given to the council's solicitors to take proceedings against three youths who had caused damage to the electricity lines to the value of seven shillings and six pence. After some debate, it was decided the summons should be withdrawn."

When he talked on the subject to Cwmbran's history society Mr Lawrence took along oil lamps of the kind that would have been in common use before electricity became widespread.

"They look lovely and have a cosy smell but the fact of the matter is that is that they would have been very hard to read by," he said.

"Our forefathers lived quite hard lives and it was electricity that made things quite a bit better for them."