"IN view of the coal strike and the possible shortage of supplies, the Urban District Council Committee requests consumers to economise in the use of gas and electricity for lighting, heating and cooking purposes."

This stark warning appeared in the Gazette 100 years ago, and there were a number of other indications of how the industrial unrest was affecting life.

The Great Western Railway had taken an advertisement to announce that its goods train service was being curtailed, and a wide variety of commodities, including bricks, iron ore, pig iron, lime, cement, stone and much more, were not being transported.

Passenger services were also affected, with services cut on the lines between Worcester and Hereford, Ledbury, Newent and Gloucester, and Worcester, Bromyard and Leominster.

Columnist Ariel wrote that the Easter season in Malvern was normally one of the best times of the year for the hotels and boarding houses.

"But at the present moment the railway service of the country is in a terrible state of dislocation, and unless the crisis is terminated - and terminated quickly - it will mean a serious loss to the health resorts of the kingdom a fortnight hence.

"Although luckily distress in Malvern has not reached an acute stage, yet the strike is making itself felt, especially among poorer families, in various ways.

"Fuel, especially coal, has reached a very high price and wood too has greatly increased in price. The bakers have sent up the price of bread and in other directions the cost of various commodities is greater."