AN EMERGENCY generator ensured funeral-goers didn't get cold after a power cut at Romsey Abbey.

Southern Electric officials quickly wheeled out the generator following last Thursday's power failure to ensure major church services continued.

The emergency generator remained in place until about 9pm. Engineers worked throughout to restore power and had to dig up the paving on the new-look Church Place to locate the problem.

Around a dozen premises lost their electricity supplies on the morning of Christmas Eve while the work was going on. But all had power restored by midday.

Despite praising Southern Electric prompt repsonse, Romsey Abbey churchwarden Michael Prince said the company could have taken action to avoid the powercut when the Church Place enhancements were being carried out in the summer.

"The cable was faulty then and they did look into it but failed to act. Now it will cost them a lot more. Unfortunately it was an opportunity missed. Southern Electric did do all it could to provide the Abbey with power so that business could continue as usual and we are very grateful. They worked until about 4.30 in the morning until they found the fault. We were most concerned about the major services including Midnight Mass and the Christmas Day services," said Mr Prince.

Two Southern Electric customers lost their supplies at about 7.25am last Thursday after a fault developed in an underground cable relaying power to Romsey Abbey and adjoining premises.

A Southern Electric spokeswoman said: "We knew there was a funeral at noon so we arranged for Romsey Abbey to be connected to a generator. The problem was in a driveway near Romsey Abbey."

Workmen have yet to re-instate the newly-laid surface dug up while engineers tracked down the fault.

And on Boxing Day families living in the Greenhill area of the town lost their power after a transformer failed near Sadler's Mill. All were reconnected by 2pm.